Fragile Webs
by Even Gods Dream
Summary: Sometimes everything can seem to be going so right, but the webs a relationship is based on can be extremely fragile and you never know what's going to knock them down. [AU Yamachi] [Sequel to Dirty Little Secret]
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Here it is, my Dirty Little Secret sequel. This chapter is just a pilot really, just to see how it's appreciated and what not and also to set out the basis for the story. It also contains a few moments of silliness. Heh. The rest of the chapters should be longer than this.

Oh, and the title may well change from Fragile Webs, I don't know.

* * *

Chapter One: Typical Day

"Toast?" Taichi offered as Yamato wandered into the kitchen.

Yamato grunted in response, sitting down at the kitchen table as Taichi slid a plate of toast toward him.

"Hikari's still here, mum's in work already and I have to go to soccer practice before school, okay?" Taichi explained.

Yamato looked up from his breakfast and realised Taichi was already dressed. He lazily watched the brunette as he bounded across the kitchen to pick up his school bag. How was it possible for one person to have so much energy at 7.30 in the morning?

"I'll see you in Maths," Taichi bounced over to Yamato, planting a kiss on the back of his head before gliding out of the door to head for soccer practice.

Yamato chewed at his toast slowly, wondering whether or not he'd bother showing up for school.

---

Taichi headed into the school's empty changing rooms. Unsurprisingly he was the first there. He quickly changed into his soccer kit and was just pulling on his trainers when one of his team mates, Hiraku, strolled in.

"Taichi," The tall boy sneered, "How's that Captain's post treating you?"

"Great thanks," Taichi smiled genuinely, ignoring the envy that twisted Hiraku's words.

Just because Taichi was popular and nice to everyone in school (bar Yamato) didn't mean that everyone liked him. Hiraku in particular was jealous of Taichi's popularity, soccer skills and captain of the soccer team position.

"Hopefully not for long," Hiraku threatened.

Taichi just rolled his eyes to himself before flashing Hiraku a small smile. He'd lost count of the number of times the boy had threatened his position.

A silence settled between the two boys as Hiraku began to change. Eventually the rest of the team filed in and a loud chatter aroused between the group before they headed out for training.

---

"I'm going to school now, you going?" Hikari strode through the kitchen.

Yamato shook his head, "I'm waiting 'til there's no one around outside to see me leaving,"

"Ah right, can't be seen leaving Taichi Yagami's apartment. After all, he's your dirty little secret," Hikari winked playfully. Yamato stared at her dumbfounded, a blush creeping across his cheeks, "Me and my brother _are_ close you know," she smiled at Yamato's response. Hikari and the two boys attended different schools but she knew how they liked to keep their relationship secret. In fact, she and her mother were the only other people who knew about them.

"Right," Yamato grumbled, still tired.

"Well I'm off, have a nice day!" Hikari sang as she skipped out of the apartment door, letting it swing shut behind her.

Yamato stood up and stumbled from the kitchen back into Taichi's bedroom, flipping back on to the bed, resting his eyes. It didn't matter if he fell asleep and missed lessons. They didn't matter to him anymore. Ever since his father… No, nothing mattered. He felt his eyes slowly droop as sleep took over him once more, and he cuddled up to the sheets that smelt so sweetly of Taichi.

---

After a boring, sweaty practice, Taichi changed back into his school uniform and headed toward his first lesson through the crowded school corridors.

"Hey Tai!" An upbeat feminine voice called from behind him as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see his friend Sora walking just behind him.

"Oh, howdy you," he took a step backwards then fell in step with his auburn-haired friend.

"How's things?" Sora asked, linking her arm through his.

"Er, good," Taichi laughed nervously, unlatching his arm from Sora's. Sora and Taichi had always been good friends, and he really liked her, but not in the same way she liked him. They both knew that, but it was always awkward when she was acting a little _too_ friendly towards him, "Yourself?" He added quickly, not wanting to sound rude.

"Oh, I'm okay," Sora sighed, looking hurt he'd pulled away from her.

"That's good," He smiled down at her openly, he cared about her and never wanted to hurt her but he couldn't help it if he didn't feel the same, and he wasn't the sort to lie to her just to spare her feelings. She respected that though, and smiled cautiously back up at him.

They walked down the rest of the corridor in silence until they reached Taichi's English classroom.

"Right, well this is my class. See you at lunch right?" Taichi smiled, striding into the class to take his seat.

-

The lesson itself was fairly boring, just making notes on another poem. Taichi spent much of it gazing out the window thinking about Yamato, until half way through the lesson when he stared at his watch and smiled to himself cunningly.

"Right. About. Now," he whispered, amused, as his watch flashed over to 9.30.

---

A loud, inconsistent and extremely irritating series of beeps woke Yamato from his short-lived sleep. He rolled over and glared at Taichi's alarm clock in disgust.

"Stupid fucking alarm!" He shouted, thumping down on the off button before sheepishly realising he'd just been yelling at an inanimate object. He glanced at the clock to check the time; it was half past nine exactly. Half an hour until Yamato and Taichi had a math lesson together. So that was why the alarm went off. Yamato smirked to himself as he stood up and wandered out of Taichi's bedroom, picking up his school bag as he went. He grabbed the spare keys from the stand near the door and left the apartment, locking the door behind him and carefully pocketing the key before making his way to school.

---

"Oh look, the loner's actually in," someone sneered as Yamato stood opposite the line that was queuing up waiting to get into the maths class.

"What a shocker," Taichi joined in; eyes locking with Yamato's for just long enough to cast him a cheeky look of amusement at the tired expression on Yamato's face that was all due to him keeping the blonde up all night then setting the alarm to make sure he got into school in time for Maths.

"Dude, what's with the muddy trousers? It's like he hasn't changed since yesterday," Someone else scoffed.

"Yeah, maybe-"

"Come on in now class, sorry I'm late," The math teacher interrupted the insults, unlocking the classroom door. The class barged their way in, Taichi slamming into Yamato on the way.

"Hey watch it jackass," Yamato growled loudly before taking his seat at the back corner of the room. He unpacked his books and dropped his bag on the chair next to him. With his hands under the table he slowly unravelled the screwed up piece of paper Taichi had artfully slid into his hands as they'd slammed into each other. The note read:

'_Last night was great. Mine again tonight? _

_- DLS_

_P.S. Sorry about the alarm. Didn't want to go the whole day without seeing you though.'_

It was scrawled on a scrap piece of paper more than likely torn from his English book and was signed with a smiley face and a heart. Yamato allowed himself a brief smile before crumpling the note back up and shoving it in his pocket. He considered starting their occasional argument in an attempt for them to get thrown out of class together but decided against it. They'd done it too often recently, and people may start suspecting.

---

The rest of the morning went by quickly, other than in Maths the boys didn't see each other until lunchtime when Yamato pursued Taichi in the boys' toilets. As Taichi was at the sink washing his hands, Yamato turned on the hand-dryer so no one else in the toilets would hear him as he walked past the brunette and growled a response to his note.

"I'll be there, oh, and as for the alarm trick? I hate you," He joked, then walked back out, heading for his usual hang-out behind the sports sheds as Taichi went his own way and joined his popular friends in the lunch hall.

-

Yamato opened his bag, carelessly removing a full packet of cigarettes. He lit one up and lent against the wall, taking a deep drag and looking up, blowing the smoke skywards. He watched it as it slowly disappeared into the atmosphere, still there, just gone from human sight. He kept his eyes on the clouds for a good few minutes before being brought back to earth by the sound of a human voice growing louder as the owner came closer, eventually merging into sight.

Before Yamato stood a girl he hadn't ever seen around school before, though that came as hardly a shock to him considering his attendance. She had blue-black hair that seemed short at the back but grew longer toward the front. Her school uniform looked new but she'd clearly adjusted it herself, the skirt hitched up so that he could almost see every inch of her pale thin legs, the shirt tied in a knot almost cowgirl style, showing off her toned stomach and pierced navel. She held a phone to her ear as she talked into it before taking notice of Yamato, who simply stood frowning at her, as he took another puff of his cigarette. His loud exhalation drew her attention to him, and she quickly said her goodbyes to whoever she was talking to and hung up her phone.

"Can I help you?" Yamato scowled as she stood there watching him.

"Shit, sorry, um no, just looking around for a good place to smoke," She smiled knowingly and he watched her lips perk at the corners, noting the piercing below the centre of her lower lip. Her face was small and delicate, but her eyes were green, large and alive, lined neatly but heavily in black kohl.

"Right," Yamato shrugged, he really couldn't care less.

"I'm new here," She explained, "The name's Rei," She mindlessly adjusted her shirt, drawing Yamato's attention back to her outfit.

"Uh huh. Bit revealing for school, isn't it?" He gestured to her outfit with his cigarette hand before putting it back to his mouth, drawing from it once more.

"So? I don't hear you complaining," She winked.

"I just did," He growled, stubbing his cigarette out on the wall, throwing it to the floor as he walked away leaving the new girl standing alone, confused at the rebel's reaction. She would have been embarrassed if she ever gave a shit.

-----

"Ah, welcome home," Yamato greeted Taichi happily as the brunette bounced through the apartment door.

"Yama! You're here early!" Taichi beamed, jumping towards the blonde and hugging him lightly.

"I left school after lunch," Yamato explained, "After getting hit on by some new chick," He watched Taichi carefully to see his reaction.

"What?" Taichi's smile hardened into a frown.

"Don't ask me, I was as pissed as you are. She just walked up to me in some stupid sluttish adaptation of the uniform and winked at me and said something about me not complaining about it. I think her name was Rei or something,"

"Oh, her," Taichi's face wrinkled in something like disgust, "She joined my I.T. lesson this afternoon. Complete weirdo. Hit on Izzy of all people, then started to mouth off at the teacher,"

"Haha, Izzy as in Koushiro? What did he do?" Yamato laughed.

"Blushed and turned away. Anyway I'm going for a shower, haven't done so since practice," Taichi kissed Yamato's lips briefly before skipping off to the bathroom. Yamato looked around the kitchen and decided there was nothing else to do whilst Taichi was in the shower but make tea.

---

"How's that meal coming baby?" Taichi asked from the door way, now fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt with his drying hair sticking out in every direction imaginable. Yamato stood at the kitchen counter wearing Taichi's mothers pink apron as he chopped vegetables.

"Just fine," Yamato said, his mind more on the cooking.

Taichi smiled at his handsome boyfriend. He never knew what on earth Yamato was cooking, but it always tasted so good, better than anything his mother could cook anyway and come to think of it he looked damned better in that apron than his mother did.

Yamato slid the diced vegetables into a pan and then turned to face Taichi.

"Couldn't you have done something to tame that mess?" Yamato taunted, gesturing at Taichi's hair.

"Hah! Just cause you spend hours in the mirror fussing over your hair like a girl, Yama, doesn't mean I have to!" Taichi teased with a wink.

"Sometimes I think maybe you should Taichi," Yamato put on his best disapproving face.

"Meh, I don't really need products and effort to look gorgeous now, do I?" Taichi wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's slender waist as Yamato rested his arms on the slightly shorter boy's shoulders.

"Hmm, I'm not sure about that," Yamato joked.

"Hey!" Taichi protested before he was silenced by a warm kiss from Yamato, which was broken when they heard a key in the door and Taichi's mother Mae Yagami strolled in.

"Now, now boys, calm down in my kitchen," She laughed, walking through the kitchen as Hikari trailed in behind her. The boys jumped apart, blushing slightly.

"Sorry mum," Taichi mumbled.

"Don't worry. Smells great in here! Cooking for us again are you Yamato?" Mae smiled.

Yamato nodded and Taichi watched as his mother and his boyfriend conversed over what Yamato was cooking. He inwardly grinned, he and his family were the only people who ever saw this side of Yamato, and he loved keeping him all for himself. He was so different in school, and Taichi never really understood why, though it worked to keep their reputations intact. Yamato had only started attending the same school as Taichi six months ago, and Taichi knew nothing of his past. All he knew was that for some reason Yamato now lived with an uncle who was rarely around. Every time Taichi tried to talk to him about it, Yamato would cleverly steer away from the topic as a momentary look of pain and regret flashed in his eyes.

* * *

Yes, I gave Tai's mum a whole new name because I couldn't remember for the life of me what her real one was, or if she even had one. Even so, I probably didn't like it anyway. So from now on she is Mae. I'm allowed, it's my story, so there. :) :p

I'd wanted to end it on a cliffhanger, but hey, wouldn't have worked.

Review and let me know what you think please. :)

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	2. Chapter 2: In the Dark

Chapter Two: In The Dark

The boys leant back slightly to admire their art. They'd just spent five minutes carefully writing in permanent marker on Taichi's wall. The finished message read 'Yamato and Taichi forever', the first half written in Yamato's neat italicised scrawl, the second half in Taichi's bold print. Taichi had finished it off by marking the date underneath.

"Just so I never forget," Taichi whispered, smiling at the wall.

"You'll never need a reminder," Yamato traced his hand along Taichi's neck, making him shiver in delight. He pulled down the poster they were using to cover their names and re-attached it to the wall with blue-tack, the names now hidden from sight. He then leant over and pressed his lips to Taichi's, kissing him eagerly as he pushed Taichi down onto his back on the bed.

---

"Can we do something tomorrow night?" Taichi suggested, snuggling into Yamato's nude chest.

"Like what?" Yamato replied, mindlessly running his hand through Taichi's wild hair.

"I dunno. Let's go out, we can go to the cinema or something. We never go out," Taichi moaned.

"With good reason. Neither of us want to be seen together,"

"Suppose. Fine you can come here again then,"

"Hmm, why don't you come to mine? You never do and my uncle's out all tomorrow night, which means we get the TV all night," Yamato said happily, "Plus we can have a few drinks then, right?"

Taichi rolled his eyes. Yamato didn't drink that much, but he certainly enjoyed it a lot. Personally, Taichi had no particular interest in it, but he'd drink with Yamato every so often. It was no big deal and he didn't intend to do it much, he cared about his health, but he _was_ a teenager, and he was allowed a little fun, right?

"Sure. I'm choosing the first movie though!"

"Fine, fine. I'd better be going soon," Yamato sighed, gazing over at Taichi's digital clock.

"Do you have to? Can't you stay?" Taichi pleaded as sweetly as he could.

"Taichi, it's gone half eleven. Its Saturday tomorrow, remember? Your friends are coming in the morning to take you out. I don't even want to imagine the looks on their faces if _I_ answered the door in my boxers,"

"Hah! It would be worth it just to see their faces! Along with your lovely body. But I get your point. Let me walk you home?"

"I don't know…"

"Come on Yamato. No one's going to see us, number one it's dark. Number two, it's half eleven on a Friday night, no one's gonna be out around here, everyone's in house parties or town. And number three… number three, it's dark!"

"That's some argument Yagami. Alright, let's go," Yamato laughed at Taichi's reasoning then stood up, pushing the quilt away from Taichi and himself. He grabbed his clothes from the floor, pulling them on quickly as Taichi did the same.

The two boys headed quietly from the apartment, being careful not to wake Hikari or Mae.

-

The walk from Taichi's to Yamato's took a short fifteen minutes. Their homes weren't far away from each other, but they were extremely different. Whereas Taichi lived in a nicely furnished typical city three bedroom apartment, Yamato and his uncle lived in a rundown suburban two storey house that was practically empty and complete with an overgrown front garden.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Taichi double-checked as they stood outside Yamato's front door that was in dire need of a lick of paint.

"Yeah, come by whenever," Yamato assured before leaning in for a goodbye kiss, "Ring me when you get back home okay?"

"Why? Worried about me?" Taichi teased, his voice echoing gently in the darkness.

"Of course. See you tomorrow," Yamato gave Taichi's hand a small squeeze before letting go and pushing his key into the lock.

"Speak to you soon," Taichi turned and slowly walked away. Yamato hovered in the doorframe for a second watching his boyfriend before he disappeared around the corner at the end of the street.

---

The next morning Taichi woke typically early and was ready and dressed well before his friends came to pick him up. They had no particular plan for their day but to hang out in their usual group and traipse around the town centre. They'd probably eventually split up in to smaller groups and shop at some point, considering it was hard to keep such a large group together.

At 11.30 on the dot, the doorbell rang and Taichi rushed to the door.

"Hey-hey-hey!" He greeted his friends Sora and Mimi. The girls were best friends which always confused Taichi. Sora was so down to earth whereas Mimi was so… high maintenance. Sora played tennis and used to be on the soccer team, and Mimi was a cheerleader. They were just so different it seemed strange for them to be so close. But then he knew first hand that differences were only skin deep, no one would _ever_ think him and Yamato were a couple just to look at.

"Morning you! Jyou and Dais are outside in Jyou's car," Sora explained, "We're meeting Hiraku, Koushiro, Kuuya and Aimi in the mall in a half hour," Kuuya and Daisuke were both on Taichi's soccer team and were both fairly close to him, Daisuke really looked up to Taichi. Jyou and Koushiro were best friends and had known Taichi since they were little. They were both smart and fairly nerdy, and Koushiro spent as much time as he could stuck to his laptop. Aimi was one of Mimi's cheerleading friends. Hiraku joined them due only to the fact that he and the others got on fairly well, and that no one else really noticed how nasty he could be to Taichi. Not that Taichi cared; it didn't really matter to him.

"Okay so come on Taichi, let's go!" Mimi practically yelped, grabbing Taichi by the arm and dragging him out of the apartment as he yelled a brief goodbye to his mother and sister.

The trio sped down the stairs of the apartment building and outside, squeezing into Jyou's car. It took them ten minutes to drive to the mall and in that time the car was a buzz of conversation as Taichi and Daisuke talked soccer, Mimi nattered at Sora about new shoes and Jyou wished they'd all stop talking so he could focus properly on the road.

When they arrived at the mall, all their friends were already there. They were greeted with friendly hugs and smiles. The group sat around and talked for a half hour or so before they all split up and headed off in separate directions after arranging to meet up again in an hour for lunch. Mimi and Aimi headed for the popular clothes and shoe shops, with Hiraku trailing close behind, he'd been after Mimi for quite some time now. Whether he actually liked her or not Taichi wasn't sure, he often wondered if it was just another attempt at popularity, Mimi was head cheerleader after all. So far Mimi hadn't been very receptive to his attempts, and Taichi had his own opinions on who she should be with, a certain red haired laptop lover who happened to be going off in the direction of computer and game shops with Jyou and Kuuya, which left Taichi, Sora and Daisuke to head for the sport and music shops.

The groups went their separate ways, enjoying the freedom of not being cooped up in school or their houses, though Taichi really couldn't wait to go to Yamato's in the night, however much he loved spending time with his friends.

Taichi, Sora and Daisuke headed to a music shop first and each separated to look for the various CD's of their choice. Taichi fumbled through a number of different albums until he found an interesting looking, well-priced Placebo album. True to say they weren't his typical first choice of music but after listening to one of Yamato's albums, he found he actually rather liked them. He carefully ran his eyes over the track listing, contemplating buying it.

"Hey Taichi! Whatcha lookin' at?" Daisuke loudly made Taichi aware of his presence.

Taichi showed Daisuke the album cover, waiting to see how the younger boy would respond.

"Pla-ce-bo," Daisuke read from the cover, "Placebo? Didn't think they were your kinda thing Tai!"

"They're actually pretty good," Taichi justified as they were joined by Sora.

"Cool… but isn't the guy like, _gay_?" Daisuke frowned.

Taichi stopped, rather startled Daisuke knew anything about them, and also affected by the way the boy had uttered the word gay, like it actually mattered.

"S-so what? Can't help who you're attracted to and fall in love with and all that jazz," Taichi reasoned, trying to sound as casual as he could.

"Hmm, guess so," Daisuke mused, not noticing the faint blush on Taichi's cheeks, or the slight stilt in his voice. Sora, on the other hand, had noticed both, and watched Taichi carefully with the hints of a slightly satisfied smile on her face, as though she thought she knew something no one else did.

--

Within the next hour the group had rejoined and were all sitting in a booth in McDonald's as Mimi showed off her new clothes.

"Oh my god! I forgot about this!" She exclaimed, pulling a pink jacket out of a shopping bag, "It's totally the best bit!" She tugged the jacket on and stood up, modelling it for her friends. It was bright pink denim and fitted, paler pink tassels falling in a line across the chest. On one of the pockets a pale pink stallion was embroidered, in true cowgirl fashion. It was a very attractive jacket, and suited Mimi's style perfectly.

"That's really nice Mim," Sora complimented, backed up by the other's approving smiles.

"Looks hot on you, obviously," Hiraku winked.

"Thanks," Mimi beamed, "What do you think Izzy?" Hey honey eyes trained in on the red head who looked up from his phone he'd been using to surf the net.

"Oh, um, looks really good," He blushed furiously, turning back to his phone before anyone noticed. Mimi smiled light-heartedly, cheeks turning a faint shade of pink. Hiraku picked up on the moment between the two and jealously took hold of Mimi's waist, pulling her onto the seat beside him.

"You know I mean it," He whispered into her ear, "You look _really_ hot in that, but of course you do so in anything,"

Mimi giggled shyly, "Thanks," she muttered, smiling.

"Whatcha doing tonight anyway?" He asked loudly so the rest of the group heard.

"Nothing," Mimi shook her head in response, staring intently into Hiraku's emerald eyes, thinking she knew what was coming. She and Hiraku had been flirting for weeks, and he was yet to ask her out. She only hoped she was right, after all she found the boy extremely attractive.

"Wanna do something? Just the two of us?"

"Hmm maybe," She joked brightly, "Pick me up at seven?"

"Okay,"

"It's a date!" Mimi grinned at Hiraku, then turned to Sora and flashed her one of excitement, not noticing the brief scowl and flicker of hurt in Koushiro's eyes that he flashed them before turning back to his phone.

On the other side of the table, Daisuke gave Taichi a discreet nudge.

"I don't get it! Didn't you say you thought she liked Koush?" he whispered.

Taichi nodded slowly, frowning at the couple, "Guess I was wrong," he sighed, "But whatever makes her happy. I'm going to get more food, coming Dais?"

"Sure," The two boys stood and headed to the counter.

"Can I help you?" A slim brunette boy on the tills asked.

Taichi leant his elbows on the counter and smiled up at the other boy, "I'll take a cheeseburger, fries and a shake! Oh, and whatever he's having," He nodded towards Daisuke.

"Same, but a cola, not a shake," Daisuke ordered.

"Right, two cheeseburgers, two fries, a cola and what flavour shake?" The cashier questioned, smiling at Taichi.

"Chocolate," Taichi answered slowly, leaning further onto the counter before the cashier went to sort the order.

Two minutes later the cashier was back, placing the tray neatly into Taichi's hands.

"Enjoy your meal," He winked briefly.

"Thanks," Taichi held his eye just a little longer than normal before returning to the table, Daisuke close behind.

-

After an hour or so, the group started to become bored and gradually dispersed. For the few who realised Koushiro's feelings the atmosphere had become stale and they all itched to be elsewhere. Mimi of course wanted to be home with Sora and Aimi sorting out her outfit for her date. Koushiro wanted to get away from Mimi and Hiraku, preferably at home where he and Jyou could play their new games. Taichi just wanted to get home and change so he could go to see his Yamato. The others were just plain bored.

"Alright well we're going back to Izzy's now," Jyou finally said, "Anyone who wants to go too can get a lift with us now. Taichi?"

"Yup, I'm all ready to go," Taichi sighed with relief; he'd been waiting for someone else to start the leaving.

"I'll come back to Izzy's with you," Kuuya stood up, more than ready to leave.

"I'll get a lift too!" Daisuke chirped in.

"Alright, that's it. There's no room for anyone else, sorry girls," Jyou stood up, flicking a strand of his long blue-black hair behind his ears.

"Well girls, looks like it's just you and me. I'll drive you all back to Mimi's," Hiraku offered.

And so they all made their ways home, thanks mostly to Jyou and Hiraku's cars. Daisuke asked Taichi if he could hang at his for a while, and being too nice to say no, Taichi let him.

"So what are these Placebo like then?" Daisuke questioned as he sat on Taichi's kitchen table eating left over pizza he'd found in the fridge and swinging his legs beneath him.

"Have a listen. You know where the CD player is," Taichi passed Daisuke the CD he'd bought in town and Daisuke put it on. The first track started off slow, then picked up quickly, getting heavier and faster. Daisuke tilted his head to the side, listening intently.

"Hmm not half bad," the mahogany haired boy pondered as his feet began moving in time with the music.

"Told you," Taichi smiled casually.

"Right. So anyway, anything good on telly?" Daisuke jumped up from the table quickly, already bored with just sitting and listening. Of course Taichi didn't blame him, just sitting and listening _could_ be boring, but right now he just wanted space so he could get ready for the night.

"Err I dunno," Taichi rolled his eyes as Daisuke rushed past him into the lounge, jumping on to the sofa and flicking on the TV.

"Oh, Sleepy Hollow's on!" Daisuke shouted over-excitedly, "Aw but it's already half way through, oh well!" He settled further into the couch and Taichi groaned under his breath, he liked having Daisuke around but he'd much rather be with Yamato.

"You enjoy that. I'm gonna go shower, okay?"

"Okay," Daisuke replied absent-mindedly as he watched Ichabod Crane's face splatter with blood from cutting open someone's stomach.

Taichi wandered into the bathroom shaking his head, Daisuke had a strange attention span to say the least. Before getting into the shower, Taichi grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent Yamato a text.

'_Dais is round. Can't get rid of him. Be round when he's gone x'_

He then clambered into the shower, spending a lengthy ten minutes washing his hair and cleaning himself in preparation to see his beautiful boyfriend before clambering back out and drying himself off. He wandered to his room and pulled on some casual looking clothes before heading back into the lounge, towel drying his hair.

"Enjoying?" He asked Daisuke who was happily munching away at a bag of crisps he'd helped himself to whilst engrossed in the film. He merely nodded leisurely in response, not taking his eyes from the TV.

Taichi sat down next to him stealing a handful of crisps and watching the film. They were soon interrupted however, by the text alert message on Taichi's phone. He opened the text quickly, recognising the number as Yamato's.

'_K, hurry him up. Wanna cu. I'll leave the front door open, just walk in'_

"Who's the text from Tai?" Daisuke nosed.

"Some phone company," Taichi lied, sliding the phone back into his pocket, "Look Dais, I'm really sorry but I've got a lot of work to do for Monday, you're gonna have to go soon sorry," Taichi hated lying, but there was no other way Daisuke was ever going to leave.

"Okay, no worries!" Daisuke finished his crisps then jumped up, flicking off the film, "I'll see you Monday right?"

"Sure," Taichi walked the younger boy to the door where they said their goodbyes and Taichi hurriedly finished getting ready for Yamato's, scribbled his mum a quick note saying he'd be home Sunday afternoon and left, quickly walking the distance between his and Yamato's houses.

-

Taichi warily pushed open Yamato's front door, not used to walking in on his own. He heard the faint strum of a guitar starting out a cheerful riff and followed the sound, figuring he'd work out which room Yamato was in that way. He came to the dimly lit lounge and stood at the door, watching the slim blonde figure strumming at his guitar. Taichi smiled, trying to stay unnoticed, he hadn't heard Yamato play before, just seen the guitar lying around his room. As Yamato continued the chords he eventually began to sing the words to the song he was playing, and Taichi bit his lip, he hadn't ever heard him sing either, and it truly was beautiful.

_"In the dark, in the darkness you will find, dirty little secrets we all hide, cause we all have a darker side, a place we keep where no one else will find,"_

Yamato's voice was strong and warming, so stunning it caused Taichi to gasp which in turn made Yamato jump at Taichi's presence having not realised he was there previously.

"Don't stop," Taichi whispered, almost mesmerised.

"Hey," Yamato blushed slightly at the other boy's reaction, putting his guitar down and standing up to greet him. He drew Taichi gently into his arms.

"Missed you today Yama," Taichi sighed, breathing in Yamato's tantalising scent, something like citrus.

"You too Chi" Yamato pulled Taichi's chin towards him and kissed him gently, before pulling away and dragging him through the house to the kitchen by his hand. He opened the fridge pulling out two cans of cider then dragged Taichi into the back garden. Taichi hadn't been out the back before; it was a fairly small garden, with patio doors leading out onto decking atop a wide area of weedy grass. There was little out there bar a tree growing out of the grass and a bench central on the decking. Yamato sat down on the bench, signalling to Taichi to do the same.

"So how was your day?" Yamato enquired as he pulled open the can, letting it finish fizzing over as he withdrew a tin from his pocket, taking out everything he needed to roll a cigarette.

"Not bad," Taichi gazed up at the sky, by the time he'd managed to get rid of Daisuke and walked to Yamato's it was getting fairly late, the sun was setting, painting the sky pink, flicking the clouds with orange, "Your usual Saturday - town, shopping, fast food. Mimi and Hiraku are going out tonight, like _out_, out,"

"Hiraku? Ugh. Why?" Yamato was fairly open with his distaste for the boy, unlike Taichi.

"Who knows? Guess he's kinda cute," Taichi joked.

"Yeah if you're into that arrogant bastard sort of thing,"

"True, very true," Taichi laughed, "Anyway, how was your day?"

"Oh, boring," Yamato rolled his eyes, "Didn't wake up 'til late, watched TV, showered and waited for you," His tongue darted out of his mouth, licking the glue of the cigarette paper, fastening it down in a perfect cylinder, then carefully slid in a filter. He stared down happily at his work of art.

"Yeah, sorry I was so long. Daisuke decided to get glued to Sleepy Hollow," It was Taichi's turn to roll his eyes.

"Not a bad film I guess," Yamato reasoned before placing his work of art gently between his lips and lighting it, taking a deep drag.

"It is when you just want to come and see your beautiful boyfriend," Taichi blushed slightly. Yamato smiled and leant in towards Taichi, capturing his lips in another open mouthed kiss, letting the smoke pass between their mouths. Yamato was the first to pull back in a want for fresh air. He gazed happily at Taichi as he passed him his can of cider.

"We should order pizza," Yamato stated happily, watching the lips of his lover form a perfect pout around the top of his can, eyes half closed as he swallowed the cool appley alcohol.

--

Not too long later the boys were cuddled under a blanket on Yamato's comfy sofa. Taichi was stretched out across the blonde's lap with a box of pizza on his. Yamato's hands were draped across Taichi's chest. A number of cans cans stood on the floor beside the sofa, most empty, two half drunk. The room was dark, the only light emanating warmly from the TV, their main point of focus as Taichi's choice of film played, though every so often their focus flickered to each other. Minds slightly intoxicated from the drink they found everything just that tiny bit more interesting than usual, and were definitely more open about it.

At some point though, something - and Taichi didn't know what, could have been the drink, could have been the film, could have been just plain curiosity - inspired the brunette to try asking Yamato about his past once more.

"Yamato, where were you before you came here?" He delved straight in.

Yamato groaned, and seemed to tighten up. "I told you before Chi, I grew up in Gunma then came to live here with my uncle about seven months ago,"

"Exactly Yama, that's all you've told me, and I can't help but wanna know more," Taichi sat up and faced the blonde rebel, so he was staring directly into the blue eyes. Normally Taichi wouldn't pry, he'd let Yamato tell him he grew up in Gunma and then not ask anymore, but the past had been itching him for too long now, and he wanted to know, the intoxication gave him the extra courage to ask. "Like who did you grow up with? Why are you living with your uncle now?"

"Why do you have to know? It's not like it matters!"

"But it does to me Yama, you know everything about me. Sometimes I feel like I just don't know you. Why won't you tell me?"

"Because I don't want to. Now drop it Taichi," Yamato snarled.

"No, you know what? I won't. I just wanna know, I wanna know more about you because I love you. What's the big deal? I mean it's not like it can be terrible or anything! All I'm asking is who you lived with!"

"Fine. I lived with my father okay? Will you give it a rest now?"

Finally, he was getting somewhere.

"So why did you leave him to come here?" Taichi asked and studied Yamato's face in the light from the T.V. The boy looked paler than usual, eyes almost frozen.

"I didn't leave him," he whispered bitterly, hanging his head so that his blonde hair flopped down over his face leaving Taichi unable to see his eyes or expression.

"Yamato? What happened?" Taichi probed, suddenly concerned.

"I… I…" Yamato stumbled for words in defeat, then raised his head to look at Taichi. His face was ashen, his eyes were filled with something not far different from hate and remorse, but at the same time longing and loss. He trembled slightly, and growled out the last words in a raspy, disturbed voice, the words that made Taichi's eyes burst wide with shock, the words that he hadn't uttered out loud to anyone but himself before; "I- I killed him,"

* * *

No, I'm not turning Yama into some psycho murderer or anything of the sort, you'll see what I mean next chapter.

Apologies to any Koumi fans... they'll be getting together eventually though.

Oh, and plenty of metaphor in this chapter for what's to come. Some of the scenes may have seemed pointless, they weren't. :)

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	3. Chapter 3: Confessions and Disaster

A/N: Gyah. Been a while, but it's the easter holidays now, so I have more time for writing, even if I should be studying.

I don't normally do review shout outs, but this time you people deserve it. Because I said so. So thanks to JyouraKoumi, kai21, krad, Death-to-the-tadpoleclowns, ., Tresa Cho, Kirihana, thE-lOliitA-dOll, yellow, daisy.insane-angel, Midnight808, Digi-Girl101, Sovereign of Silence3 and regretfully-yours-Cassy-chan. You're all legends.

* * *

Chapter Three: Confessions and Disaster

_In the back,_  
_In the closets of your mind,  
That's where skeletons and dirty secrets hide,  
And I'll rip out my insides,  
And leave them on display for you tonight…_

"I killed him. It's all my fault," Yamato spat coldly, the tone enough causing Taichi to realise that what lay in the blonde's eyes wasn't something _near_ hate after all. No, it was hate, it was self-loathing. It took Taichi several moments to comprehend what Yamato was actually saying, but he slowly took it in. His eyebrows shot up in shock, pupils contracted, mouth dropped open.

He stumbled on his words as he tried to form some sort of reaction to what his boyfriend was telling him, but all that came out was a series of incomprehensible mumbles.

Thus the boys sat in the icy lethal silence, Yamato's mind running through the past, hating himself by the second, hating Taichi for getting him to open up, then hating himself even more for allowing Taichi to make him. Taichi was stunned, it was nowhere near what he'd expected, he would have thought it to be one of Yamato's twisted jokes had it not been for the stare in Yamato's eyes and his jagged voice. All sorts of questions ran through his head, and he had no idea how he could possibly react. Eventually though, words came to him, and he said the only thing he could think of saying until he knew more.

"What-what happened, Yamato?" His voice was shaken, confused, cold. Though the room was dark, his eyes were shrunk in utter disbelief, the normally warming and cheerful chocolate brown now bemused and dull.

Yamato didn't speak for a moment, he couldn't. Since he'd moved to Odaiba he'd tried his hardest to put it all behind him, to forget his old life and start over, taking only lessons learnt with him, though not always applying them. He hadn't told a soul, hadn't talked about it once, trying to block out all thoughts of it. That's why living with his uncle suited him so well, they rarely even talked, let alone mentioned that fateful night. Finally though, he began to talk, and he slowly told Taichi the whole story.

---

_Until he was two, Yamato lived in an average family home with his mother and father. There never seemed to be anything wrong until that one evening when he lay in his bed, wide awake, tugging on his pyjama sleeves, stuffed teddy in hand as he listened to his parents yell at each other. Being so young, it terrified him, it was like nothing he'd heard before. Sure, he'd heard his parents disagree, what child doesn't? But this was something different; his mother's voice was so aggressively shrill as she mocked, taunted and yelled at her husband and his voice in turn was broken, yet booming. He didn't understand quite what they were arguing over, at first he'd tried his best to tune it out, but how could he when they were so loud? _

_The argument seemed to last forever, but eventually it calmed down, and he rolled over in bed, chewing at the ear of his teddy, hoping neither of his parents realised he was awake. He listened as intently as he could as his mother ran up the stairs and into her bedroom, she slammed doors and cupboards, yanked open and banged shut drawers. Then all of a sudden everything fell silent again. He thought he could hear his father sobbing downstairs, but couldn't be too sure. _

_Soon enough the silence was broken again by his mother moving something around in his parents' bedroom before she appeared in his doorframe. He quickly pretended to be asleep, not wanting to face whatever was happening. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but he knew it wasn't good. She stepped quietly into the room and shook him awake so he had to stop pretending. He sat up in bed, legs over the side and looked at her as expectantly as a scared two year old can, stuffed teddy still clutched in his clammy hand._

_"Yamato," His mother started sadly, holding onto his shoulders, "Mummy's going away for a while now, so it will be a while before you see me again. But I want you to know that I love you Yamato, I love you, and don't ever forget that," Tears filled her bright blue eyes and she quickly wiped them away, turning quickly and walking out without turning back once. Yamato watched as she rushed down the stairs, suitcase in hand, out of his sight. There was a brief silence before he heard the front door open and then slam again. And just like that she was gone._

_From then on Yamato and his father, Hideki, found themselves very much alone. It may only have meant one less person, but she was so lively and loud that the house seemed almost empty without her. Yamato never found out what happened, nor even knew if his parents stayed in touch, and the only hint he had was when she came back for a few days two years later when Yamato was four._

_--_

_The house was fairly quiet bar the Disney film Yamato was watching on the television in the lounge. Hideki was busy in the study, working. Now that it was just him and Yamato he'd taken to doing a lot of work at home, though it was difficult. Winter rain slammed down outside like tiny shards of glass, twisting and repeatedly hitting the windows. Suddenly there was a loud banging at the front door and Yamato wandered out to see who it was as his father opened the door. In walked his mother, soaked and bedraggled, blonde hair plastered to her face._

_"Yamato, go upstairs," His father ordered tersely, before his mother could speak._

_"No, no! Please let me see him, please!" She begged._

_"Jenny-" All Hideki could utter was his ex-wife's name as she stumbled through the door and rushed towards Yamato. He was scooped up in her arms and he coughed at her smell, it was bitter and hard, a smell he later learned to be alcohol. The boy struggled in her arms, uncomfortable in their unfamiliarity with that awful smell._

_"Jenny, put him down. You're drunk," Hideki instructed. Surprisingly she listened to him and let Yamato go._

_"Yamato, go to your room," Hideki repeated. Yamato obliged and ran up the stairs, leaving his parents downstairs, just where they'd been arguing right before she left. _

_She stayed that night, sleeping on the sofa. Yamato skirted around her nervously, she'd only been there for the first half of his life, then she'd disappeared, why should he talk to her or feel comfortable around her? _

_It was in the morning the next day that Yamato sneaked downstairs and overheard part of a conversation between his parents._

_"You can't stay here," Hideki stated coldly, "You have to go back. You can't leave them like you left us," _

_"But-" _

_"No buts about it Jenny, you have to go back. I'll drive you there this morning if I have to," _

_The conversation drew to a close as the little blonde boy walked in._

_"Is she going?" He asked his father, blatantly ignoring his mother._

_"Yes, I'm going to be taking her to her home once I've got dressed. Will you be okay here on your own for half an hour?" Hideki questioned. He knew it was unconventional to leave a four year old alone, but he figured it was only for a short time, and there was no other way to do it now he was practically a single parent. _

_-_

_In the end, that's how Yamato grew up, his father leaving him alone for long periods of time as he went off to work and conferences. He never was really there much, though he'd always make time for Yamato if the boy wanted it. Of course, Yamato always was too afraid or proud to say when he did want it, and so they never spent that much time together._

_Hence Hideki never noticed how close Yamato and his best male friend really were. That's why he was so shocked the afternoon he got a phone call from Yamato's school complaining Yamato had been fighting with a group of boys after they'd called him a 'fag'. _

_At the time, Yamato was fifteen and he and his best friend, Kai, had been a lot closer than the rest of the school realised. That was until the rest of the school found out. Yamato had made the mistake of trusting one of their other friends with their secret. It turned out that friend was not to be trusted, and soon the whole school knew. Kai denied it all, then dumped Yamato, joining in with the rest of the school as they made his life a living hell. Yamato found himself all alone, being bullied and pushed around in the corridors, having filthy names shouted after him, once one of the older boys even picked him up and shoved him in a bin. Yamato let it all happen, alone in his depression at the way Kai and his other friends had treated him. He eventually started to drink and soon began to fight back when people threw punches at him. The teachers turned a blind eye to the way he was being treated, or at least they did until he won his first fight. Then the principal phoned the blonde's father straight away. _

_Hideki was stunned as the principal told him his son had turned up to school drunk and gotten into a fight. Afterwards he drove Yamato home in silence, rain pouring down on the windows, as a few stray tears slid down Yamato's cheeks._

_"What's going on son?" Hideki finally cut through the silence. After a few moments of no reply from Yamato, he continued, "Look Yamato. I don't care if you're gay or straight or whatever. I do care about you though, which means I don't want you drinking and fighting, especially in school," _

_Again, Yamato took his time replying._

_"Yamat-"_

_"You know what Dad? Don't even pretend like you care about me. If you did, this wouldn't be happening now. You'd have been there for me. You'd have already known about me and Kai. As it is you weren't there, so don't turn around now that everything's gone wrong and act like you give a shit! All you've cared about for the past fifteen years is your job," His voice was broken, and he was holding back tears, "No wonder mum left," he added quietly, bitterly. _

_Hideki turned to face his son "I do care. Why do you think I work so hard? To keep earning money for you Yamato! If I didn't care I just wouldn't have bothered after your mother left!" _

_"Care? You don't have a clue what I've been going through for the past few years on my own!" Yamato yelled._

_"Ok, just calm down son. Let's just get you home, I'll make you some food and we can talk this through properly once you've sobered up better," Hideki reasoned. His calm tone served only to infuriate his son more._

_"No! Just pull over and let me out of this damned car!" Yamato hated the tension and the arguing, he just wanted out._

_"What? I don't think so Yamato. Be rational, eh?"_

_It was no use. In his anger, Yamato leaned over and grabbed the steering wheel, pulling it towards him to direct the car to the side of the road. He entangled his legs across to his father's side of the car, trying to find the brake pedal, fighting his father's attempts to push him away. _

_"Yamato!" Hideki shouted, grappling to get control of the wheel. _

_Yamato looked up and realised they were on the wrong side of the road, a huge lorry driving directly towards them. Shocked, he jumped back into his own seat, eyes wide, double-checking his seat-belt was attached properly. Hideki regained control of the wheel as fast as he could and swerved, pressing down hard on the accelerator. He drove them off the road as fast as they could, and turned his head around to ensure no damage had been done behind them._

_"Dad!" Yamato screamed; the last thing Hideki heard before the car crashed into the trunk of a huge tree._

_For Yamato, the next few minutes passed like a dream; a slow, torturing nightmare. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut as the impact of the crash shattered through him. He gradually opened his eyes as the air around him stilled and all he could hear was his heart thumping at the walls of his chest. He could taste the blood in his mouth from biting down so hard on his tongue. The windscreen was completely smashed in, but the crash hadn't been on his side. He gradually turned his head to face his father, ignoring the pain that shot through his neck. The man was soaked in blood, face completely smashed up. Every ounce of anger inside Yamato subsided as he was overcome with confusion and despair. His brain wasn't functioning properly and he barely understood what had just happened. He kept staring at his father's body in utter shock until he felt a cold rush as the car door was opened and something was pressed to his shoulder. Someone was talking to him but he couldn't hear what they were saying over the pounding of his own heart. He couldn't take his eyes away from his father. He just stared and stared, the argument ringing in his head._

_Before he knew it, he was surrounded by flashing red and blue lights and someone was undoing his seatbelt, pulling him away from the car, sitting him down and checking him over. He watched from a distance as people slowly removed his father from the car and placed him on a stretcher. Subsequently the dream-like quality ended and reality flooded back. He stood up and uneasily and painfully raced towards his father's side. The man was breathing sketchily every so often, his eyelids flickering open occasionally._

_"Dad! Dad!" Yamato grabbed desperately at the man's bloody hand._

_"Yamato," he groaned roughly in response._

_"Dad, I'm so sorry," Yamato's voice was broken and he was shaking uncontrollably._

_Hideki lightly squeezed his son's hand and Yamato could see by the strain in his face that it took all his strength._

_"I love you Dad," Yamato let the emotion escape him for once._

_"I love you Yamato," Hideki whispered before letting out a heavy cough, blood splattering from his moth. Yamato watched as the man's eyes dulled and grip loosened from his son's hand. Every muscle in his body lapsed, and Yamato knew he had lost his father forever. _

_---_

"And I was right. They couldn't save him," Yamato finished in a broken voice, he'd been trying to contain his emotion but to no avail, "I'd killed my own father," tears began to trickle down his cheeks.

"Oh God!" Taichi spoke for the first time in a good half hour. Tears pricked his own eyes, and there was a lump in his throat like he'd swallowed a baseball. He threw his arms around the blonde boy's neck and pulled him towards him, breathing in that tangy scent. "God Yamato. That's not your fault, you didn't kill him! You tried to warn him!"

"But-"

"Yamato, it wasn't you! You may like to think you're a total bad-ass rebel, but you don't have it in you to kill someone!" Taichi defended, "You didn't want it to happen, you tr-"

"Drop it Taichi, can't you just leave it? Just watch the movie," Yamato grumbled, pulling slightly away from his boyfriend as he dried his eyes and tried to regain himself. He couldn't handle all that emotion at one time.

Taichi let it slip and the boys sat in silence watching the film for a few minutes, before the brunette piped up again.

"Yama? How come you ended up living here with your Uncle? I mean, couldn't you have gone with your mother or something?" Taichi asked carefully, "Didn't she offer?"

"Apparently she offered, but I wasn't going to live with her and whoever she was shacking up with that week. Why should I have bothered after she left me?" Yamato argued.

"Fair enough," Taichi nodded, then snuggled into Yamato before adding, "I love you Yamato, you know that, right?"

"You've told me once or twice," Yamato taunted forcing an irritable tone into his voice, though he allowed himself a hearty smile as Taichi turned back to the TV.

---

The next few days passed slowly. After Yamato's confession the boys seemed to grow closer than they had been before, spending every evening together, just talking or watching movies, amongst other things. Everything was going wonderfully until last lesson on Thursday afternoon.

Yamato and Taichi had History, and were once again arguing across the class in an attempt to get thrown out. The class sat there rolling their eyes and laughing at comments Taichi would throw at Yamato, until eventually the teacher gave up trying to calm them down and just grabbed them by their elbows, pushing them out of the open door and slamming it in their faces.

Typically they headed for the toilets. Yamato pushed Taichi up against the wall, pressing his body into the other boy.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, I just love getting thrown out of class with you," The blonde growled before pressing his lips to Taichi's.

The kiss was passionate, filled with hunger. So much so both boys didn't realise they'd forgotten to make sure no one else was in the toilets. So much so that as Yamato's hand slipped under Taichi's shirt, they barely noticed the clicking of the lock on one of the stall doors. What did stop them however, was the bitter voice that rang out.

"What the…? Well, well, well, Yamato Ishida, would never have had you down as a fag,"

The boys froze mid kiss, eyes open wide, heart beats racing now from something other than lust. The voice was easily recognisable as Hiraku's.

"And who's that you're on top of?" he taunted, manoeuvring to see who Yamato had pinned to the wall. His jaw dropped as he saw Taichi frozen to the spot, "Yagami? Bloody hell. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself. Shit, just wait 'til the rest of the school hears about this, boys," He let out a malevolent laugh, then turned and strolled out.

* * *

The song at the start of this (also the one Yamato was singing in the last chapter) is Secrets by Good Charlotte. I claim no ownage of it whatsoever. :)

Don't know when chapter four will be along. Not too long hopefully.

Oh, and is it wrong this chapter made me think of the whole 'Daddy Issues' scene in Austin Powers? How silly I am...

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	4. Chapter 4: Rescue Me

A/N: First of all, my apologies it took so long, but between exams and personal issues with life it was hard to find the time. Two months? Not cool, but could have been longer. Secondly. I hate this chapter, I absolutely hate it. It took a lot out of me trying to get it up now, it was really hanging over me, so I just had to get it out. Which means it isn't of fantastic quality. I just hope SOMEONE likes it.

* * *

Chapter Four: Rescue Me

_Everybody's happy being themselves until it means being something different, something no one else likes._

A bitter chill cut through the stagnant atmosphere, as the two boys stood frozen against each other. In the background the silence was broken by Hiraku's whistling as he sauntered down the dull corridor.

"Yamato-" Taichi started, squirming between the blonde and the cold wall. Yamato broke his grip on the brunette and tersely shrugged away.

"Don't bother," He muttered, adjusting his clothes and hair in an attempt to make himself look more presentable.

"Yama-" Taichi persisted, reaching his arm towards Yamato.

"I said _don't_" He spat harshly, missing the gesture of Taichi's outstretched arm, which dropped at the tone in the other boy's voice. Yamato finished straightening out his hair and clothes and paced from the room; leaving Taichi slumped against the wall. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair and sighed, completely confused and shaken by what had just happened. Where on earth did this leave them now? No doubt Hiraku would keep to his word and tell the whole school, but Taichi and Yamato weren't ready for anyone else to know. No, they were no where near ready. Could they lie their way out of it? And what would that mean for them and their relationship?

After another five minutes of deep thought, Taichi sighed once more and stood up, shaking himself off. He trudged back to his History lesson and slumped into his chair. Yamato was nowhere to be seen, and his bag was gone from his desk.

"It seems your meeting with the Principal was sufficient," Mr. Iyadomi commented, "Did he finally sort you two out?"

"What?" Taichi glared. Teacher and pupils alike stared in disbelief, so used to the popular soccer player being friendly and polite to everyone.

"The Principal, Yagami. I presume you _did_ go to see him. Seems like he sorted you both out considering Ishida came back in here mouthing off before collecting his belongings and storming out, and now you stumble in with that look on your face,"

Taichi ignored the comment, scowling down at the desk, lost in his own world of questions, playing over the last fifteen minutes again and again in his mind.

"Was he really that bad?" Sora whispered across the table. A grunt was all she received in response.

She sighed and let her gaze rest on his face a moment as he glared down at the table. _It must have been bad if he's acting like this,_ she decided. It took a hell of a lot to anger Taichi Yagami, a hell of a lot indeed.

Oh, and Taichi was angry, if not fuming. He was angry at himself for being so careless. He was angry at Yamato for forcing himself on him before checking no one else was around, he was angry at Mr. Iyadomi for being such a pain in the ass and of course he was fuming with Hiraku mainly for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Soon enough the lesson ended and the class rushed out, glad to have another day over with. Taichi, however, trudged his way down the corridor; so angry, so worried, so confused. He barely noticed the looks he got from some of Hiraku's classmates as they passed him by.

He slowly made his way down the busy streets that joined his home and the school. Part of him didn't want to get home. As long as he was somewhere that wasn't _his_, he could pretend that his _problems_ weren't his. But the streets were too familiar as he walked them every day and the other part of him just wanted to get home so he could lie in bed or watch TV and hide from his problems. Of course there was also that typical part of Taichi that just wanted to face the problem head on, but something - probably fear - made him ignore that.

So he trudged on home. The heated streets made him feel no better and once he reached his apartment building, he discovered, much to his distaste, that the elevators weren't working. He paced up the stairs two at a time. His body was fuelled with anger and adrenaline. Upon reaching his apartment, he reached into the pocket he normally kept his keys in only to find they weren't there. His face flushed in irritation. He thumped the apartment door before swinging his schoolbag from his shoulders. He could only pray he'd left them in there.

"This really isn't your day, is it Yagami?" He seethed through gritted teeth as he knelt over his school bag.

It was another five minutes before he found the keys lying at the bottom of his bag. He threw open the door and strode in before it slammed shut behind him. Directly in his path of vision and all shining and bright, the fridge immediately caught his attention. He stepped over and pulled it open, gagging at the smell of one of his mother's leftover Beef Stroganoff Smoothies. His eyes scanned the shelves for something more edible before they settled on a plate of pizza. He pulled it out and sat down at the table, deciding that no matter what the problem, food was most definitely the temporary answer.

He enjoyed savouring his cold pizza in silence. Had his mother been there she'd be telling him not to eat it all because it wouldn't be long until tea. Did she not realise his stomach was bottomless? Had Hikari been there, she'd probably have wanted some for herself, or sensed he was angry and not shut up until he told her what was wrong. Had Yamato been there he'd be rolling his eyes and raising his perfect eyebrows at how exactly Taichi could eat pizza cold; surely it was meant to be eaten hot, or at least warm.

_Ugh, Yamato._ Just like that his problem came back to him. He glowered down at the pizza, silently cursing it for reminding him, and pushed the plate away. It was silly to be angry at a pizza, he knew that, but he had to direct his anger at something. At least the pizza had calmed him slightly though, perhaps even enough to listen to that rational part of his brain.

He stood up out of his chair and was about to flounce to his bedroom when the cordless phone on the kitchen counter caught his eye. He stared at it for several seconds, wondering whether or not he should call Yamato. There was no way the musician would call him, and they certainly needed to talk.

With a large sigh, he eventually picked up the phone and jabbed in Yamato's cell phone number and waited for it to ring. It did so exactly three times before going through to voicemail.

"Bastard," Taichi practically snarled. Yamato had hung up on him. Anger fuelled in a new direction, he grabbed a pen and piece of paper, scribbling a brief note to his mother and sister.

'_Going out. Don't know how long I'll be'_

He stuck it on the kitchen counter before adding '_save me some tea'_ then left it, without his usual smiley face at the bottom. He grabbed a hoody from the pile of clothes waiting to be ironed in the living room and pulled it on before rushing out of the front door and racing down the stairs, almost knocking over a poor old woman and her shopping on the way.

Making sure his hood was up, he made his way to Yamato's via back-roads and alleyways. At the pace he was walking it wasn't long before he was standing in front of Yamato's house. He stared at the peeling paint on the door, hesitant. He breathed in once, deeply, pulling his courage together. He didn't know why he was so nervous about facing Yamato, but something told him it wasn't going to be easy. He knocked at the door steadily and waited for an answer as he shifted his weight from foot to foot.

After a few minutes the door was finally opened to reveal a bedraggled looking blonde. The vaguely expectant expression on his face turned to a sullen frown when he saw it was Taichi at the door.

"We need to talk," Taichi declared but was barely half way through his sentence when Yamato slammed the door shut in his face.

"Yamato, you idiot!" Taichi yelled, thumping at the door, "Open this door now!" he thumped again, "Yamato Ishida!" And again, "Open it or I'll stand here kicking and screaming all night!" And again.

"Just fuck off Taichi," Yamato called through the door, calmly yet bitterly.

It proved only to ground on Taichi's last nerve and beyond anger he thumped the door one last time, feeling completely beaten by the day's events.

"Come on Yama," he whined, "We really need to sort this out,"

Silence.

Taichi slumped against the door in surrender, waiting through four minutes of silence before standing up and traipsing home, feeling completely defeated.

---

"Hey Tai!" Hikari smiled at her brother as he plodded through the front door.

"Hi," He smiled at his sister weakly before making his way to his bedroom. Lazily, he threw himself onto the bed and buried himself in the sheets before realising they smelt much too beautiful, much too like Yamato. He snorted out in an attempt to rid his head of the smell and stood up slowly, gazing at his bed before leaving and heading for the lounge. He flounced down on the sofa and turned on the TV. He flicked through the channels looking for something interesting to watch before he noticed his sister hovering in the doorway.

"What?" He questioned, irate, not taking his eyes from the TV.

"Taichi, are you alright?" She asked softly.

"Sure, why wouldn't I be?" He grunted.

"Well you're hardly acting like the cheerful big brother I know and love. Plus where was the usual smiley face on your note?"

Of course with the foul mood Taichi was in she merely received a grunt in response.

"Okay… is it school? No, wait, Yamato. It's Yamato, right?"

"Hikari, shut up,"

"It _is_ Yamato then. Come on Tai, what's happened?" She probed gently.

"Hikari, it doesn't matter," Taichi ground his teeth and kept his frown on the figures on the TV screen.

"Fine. I'll just phone Yamato and find out what's going on," She smiled ever so slightly slyly to herself.

"Whatever, you don't even have his number, I'm not that stupid,"

"Oh, I beg to differ. Don't you remember 'Kaaariiiii, can I borrow your phone to text Yammaaaa? I'm all outta credit'" She mimicked Taichi, meaning it merely as bribery for him to explain what had happened, "You saved the number, remember?"

"Right, whatever. Go on, try ringing him. He won't even pick up,"

"Fine. I give up. I'm going to go find out what's for tea. See if I can persuade mum to get a takeaway," She left the doorway slightly disheartened.

Glad to get his little sister off his back, Taichi stretched out and sank further into the sofa with a soft yawn. He stayed that way for a long time - chopping and changing between the channels, trying to take his mind from his ordinary life and high school issues.

It wasn't until at least an hour after he'd been pestered by Hikari, did Taichi get up and prowl into the kitchen, summoned by the warm, spicy smell of an Indian takeaway. His mother and sister were already seated at the table. There was a plate of hot food in front of the seat usually reserved for Taichi. He plodded over and slid into it, his mind not training in on the conversation he'd walked into.

He began eating his meal slowly and in silence - a rarity for Taichi Yagami. The rest of the night passed in much the same manner, Taichi trudged around the house in the way a lost ghost might. He gazed half-heartedly at the TV, flicking between the channels, he lazily attempted his math homework and flitted around the kitchen, picking at snack food.

As he left the lounge for the third time in an hour, Hikari turned to her mother.

"So what do you think is wrong with him then?" The girl questioned.

"Who knows?" Her mother replied, rolling her eyes, "School troubles? Yamato troubles? Girl troubles? PMS?"

Hikari stared at her mother with an eyebrow cocked. PMS? She did realise that Taichi was in fact her _son_ didn't she?

"Hey, all I'm saying is you never can know with him," Mae laughed softy, reading her daughter's expression perfectly, "Besides, he'll sort it out himself or come to us eventually, you know what he's like,"

Hikari rolled her eyes and turned back to the TV as Taichi came back in with yet another packet of crisps. He sunk down into the sofa and continued his half hearted viewing of the TV, though his mind was elsewhere. Precisely where? On what on earth was going to happen the next day, on how he'd react, how Yamato would react. There was no way he could know though, at least not until he let it just happen.

---

Whoever said that things always seemed better in the morning was either a liar or very, _very_ misguided. Taichi, usually the first one up and dressed, lacked the energy to even think about making breakfast. The quilt around him provided too much comfort to leave his bed, and his eyes were content with being half open and gazing at the ceiling. His mind, on the other hand, provided him with no comfort or contentment whatsoever. It wasn't just the overall anxiety about what could happen at school that was bringing him down, it was the conflict inside him that was eating away at his energy. Part of him wanting to stay home from home and hide from it all, part of him wanting to lie his way out of it, part of him wanting to beat the shit out of Hiraku, part of him wanting never to see Yamato Ishida again, part of him wanting nothing more than to be with the blonde and part of him wondering what the hell the rest of him was worrying about. But none of that mattered, it looked like he just had to face it and take it step by step. It wasn't like he could hide in bed all day anyway, not now that his sister was hammering away at the door in an attempt to get him up.

"Taiiii! Come on Taichi! I need to use the shower and you know you get mad if I use it before you!! Come on! Wake up!" Hikari yelled outside the troubled boy's door. "Okay, three seconds and I'm coming in. Three… Two… One… You'd better be decent!"

The door swung open. The bright light from the hallway glared into Taichi's half lidded eyes making him squeeze them tight shut. Hikari walked over to the bed and pulled back the quilt, exposing Taichi's body - clad only in a pair of jeans - to the warm stagnant summer air.

"Leave me be," the boy groaned.

"Oh what is _wrong_ with you Taichi?" Hikari half laughed as she grabbed one of the spare pillows and attacked her brother with it. "Come on up, you've already missed soccer practise,"

Taichi gave in, rolled over and sat up groggily, tugging the pillow away from his sister.

"Alright, okay, I'm up," He grunted, flipping Hikari with the pillow before throwing it back down on the bed.

"Good, now get in the shower. I'll make your breakfast. Mum said she'd give us both a lift to our schools,"

---

45 minutes later, Taichi bounced through the school gates, his energy regained and problems pushed almost to the back of his mind by the Friday morning rush. Lessons were yet to start and kids were running around everywhere and sitting with their friends gossiping, enjoying the summer Sun. It was a typical Friday morning and just seemed like normal school to Taichi. He even hoped maybe that maybe that meant Hiraku had told no one. That was until he noticed that more people were looking at him than usual. Gossip couldn't get around that fast, could it? He shrugged it off, hanging his head and studying the floor intently as he absent-mindedly fiddled with his bag-strap and headed for the benches where he and his friends often hung out. When he got there, after a walk that seemed to take longer than usual, he found his friends in a tight circle discussing something extremely intently.

"Guys, why don't we just ask him ourselves? Here he is," Kuuya said, instilling a rapid hush on the group as eight faces turned to stare at Taichi expectantly. He looked each of them over in turn, quickly noting who was there - Kuuya, obviously, Daisuke and two of the other boys from the soccer team, Sora, Koushiro, Aimi and another of her cheer-leading friends. That meant that Hiraku wasn't around, though Taichi wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing. Mimi wasn't there though that came as no surprise; it could take that girl ages to get ready for school even with the uniform in place. Jyou wasn't there either, but Taichi decided he was probably off swotting up on something.

"What's going on guys?" Taichi asked nervously.

"Is it true Taichi?" Koushiro questioned carefully.

"Er… is what true?" Taichi laughed uneasily, deciding that, under the pressure of so many faces watching him, that playing dumb was the best way to go about it, "Seriously guys. What's going on?"

"Tai… are you… gay?" Daisuke blurted out.

"What?" The brunette scoffed forcefully, "No way. What on earth would give you that idea?"

Daisuke looked at his feet and Kuuya shifted apprehensively before explaining, "You missed soccer practise this morning so Coach postponed it until tonight. In the mean time Hiraku kinda told us that, well, to quote him directly 'Yagami's as gay as the day is long'" Daisuke and the other two boys on the team supported him with reassuring nods.

"Hiraku? Oh, come on guys! Everyone knows he's after my captain position. Look I'm not gay okay?! I mean do I really look gay to you?" Taichi lied and surprisingly the others seemed to believe him. He had to hand it to himself, he was a fantastic actor.

"I guess," Kuuya replied.

"So what else did he say? Did he say who I'm allegedly gay with?" The brunette wanted as much information as possible before saying _anything_ else.

"Nope," Daisuke said, "We didn't really have time to ask anything, he cleared off then, said he had things to do,"

"Weird," Taichi frowned, but the sound was lost under the ringing of the school bell, signalling first period was about to begin.

The morning passed as a blur and Taichi noticed a difference in the way some people treated him. Instead of shooting him friendly smiles or asking how he was, some people went out of their way to avoid contact whereas others would look straight through him. Another thing he noticed was that Yamato didn't turn up to their math lesson.

Lunch soon came and he met up with Daisuke by the lockers before heading into the lunch hall. The room seemed to still as the two boys walked in and numerous pairs of eyes were fixed on Taichi as he bought his lunch and sat with his friends.

"Hey look guys, it's fag of the hour," Hiraku laughed slyly.

"Hiraku, leave him be. You know the rumours aren't true right?" Mimi defended her friend to her new boyfriend.

"Mimi, you realise he's pretty much the one who started them, right?" Kuuya pointed out.

Taichi looked around, realising most ears and eyes in the lunch hall were fixed on them.

"Guys, can we not do this here-?" He started but Hiraku cut across him.

"The thing is it's not a rumour. I saw it with my own eyes!"

"Saw _what_ Hiraku?" Sora questioned.

"Him!" Hiraku shouted, exasperated, pointing at Taichi, "Making out with another guy!"

"Hiraku, why would you, like, make up these lies?" Mimi scowled at her boyfriend.

"But they're not lies! I saw him! With Yamato Ishida no less!"

At this, more than half the mouths in the room dropped open in shock and there was a pause before anyone spoke again.

"Well Taichi? Aren't you gonna tell them it's true?" Hiraku taunted.

"I'm not gay Hiraku, and I don't understand why you're so intent on lying. People, do I really look gay to you?!" His voice was raised in frustration, "I'm not bloody _gay_! Least of all with that Ishida scruff!"

"Taichi, stop lying you fag," Hiraku growled, anger matching Taichi's.

"I'm not. I'm not gay. How could I be gay when I like a _girl_?" The lies kept rolling off his tongue as the lunch hall sat in anticipation.

"Who, Tai?" Daisuke finally asked.

Taichi groaned and turned to Sora, "Sora, I know this isn't the greatest time to tell you, but I like you. Can we, erm, go out sometime?" He asked bleakly.

She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment before answering. "Of course," She muttered, forcing a smile on her gentle features, "Now how about we get out of here?" she suggested and stood up. Taichi followed suit and they left the hall.

"I can't believe you'd lie about stuff like that Hiraku," Mimi repeated after watching the two leave, "Especially about Taichi, he's one of my like, best friends!"

"But I'm _not_ lying," Hiraku insisted.

"I don't believe you. And even if it's the truth, you don't spread it around the whole school like that!"

"People have the right to know!"

"Whatever! Taichi has a right to privacy and stuff. I mean, god, you're an ass, and if you're going to treat my friends like that, we're over,"

"What?!"

"We're over," Mimi stated before storming off, her cheerleader friends in tow.

-

Meanwhile, Sora and Taichi strolled down the empty corridor away from the busy lunch hall in silence, until Taichi broke it.

"So… um… when d'ya wanna… go out?" He asked nervously, not thinking straight. It seemed he was going to hurt Sora now, all to stop the school finding out about the real him.

"Tai, you can stop now," she said in that overly empathetic tone of hers.

"Stop? Stop what?"

"Oh, come on," She dragged him into the nearest empty classroom, flicking on the lights and shutting the door behind them.

"I know you don't like me Taichi," She lifted herself to sit on a desk.

"Sora-" Taichi tilted his head to the side and took a step towards her.

"Tai, it's okay. I don't feel that way about you anymore. The point is, what Hiraku said is true isn't it?"

"NO!" Taichi dejected.

"Well, maybe not the part about Yamato Ishida, but you are gay, aren't you?"

Taichi sighed in defeat, sitting down in the nearest chair and running a hand through his messy hair.

"How'd you know?" he questioned, voice cracked into barely a whisper.

"An educated guess. When you think about it, it's kind of obvious - the way you turn off when other guys talk about girls and sex, the way you could have the pick of _any_ of the girls in school and you never show the slightest interest, and what about Saturday - your face when Daisuke was talking about the gay guy in Placebo. Plus don't think I didn't notice your subtle flirting with the guy in McDonald's either,"

Red smothered Taichi's cheeks as he took an intent interest in the table before him.

"It's okay Tai, it doesn't matter to me. I can't speak for anyone else though. If you want to keep denying it to them all that's fine and I'll play along, but I really think you ought to just tell the truth, and knowing you, you will, even if you mope and lie about it for a few days first,"

"Fine, you're right, I'm gay. But I'm not telling them. Ever. They can't know okay? Sora, people don't like people like me," Taichi silently recalled Yamato's experiences.

"Okay," Sora said with a fairly false upbeat smile, "The part about Yamato Ishida's not true though, right? Not that I'd care if it was…"

"No, its not. I seriously don't know where Hiraku got that from," he lied. Being gay was bad enough, but being gay and dating the school's rebel exile? He couldn't be sure if even Sora would accept that, and he had a duty to protect Yamato's privacy.

-

Ten minutes later the group had rejoined at their benches, all minus Hiraku. The topic of Taichi's sexuality had been carefully stepped around for the past few minutes, but it still seemed to be plaguing Daisuke's mind.

"So… Tai? You're really not like - or never have - been, like, doing Ishida?" Daisuke questioned, and on queue everyone around stopped their conversations and listened in. Taichi failed to notice Yamato stumbling past at that precise moment, but Yamato didn't fail to notice Taichi's reply.

"No Dais. I'm bloody straight. Straight, straight, straight. And even if I was gay, do you really think I'd go anywhere near that Yamato fag?"

Yamato stopped and stared at Taichi, mouth open slightly, brow furrowed in disgust, hurt scarring his eyes for just a second before anger took over. Without saying a word he spun on his heel and strutted off.

"What's up with him?" Kuuya frowned after the blonde.

"Huh?" Taichi still failed to notice Yamato's presence.

"Ishida. He heard all that and didn't even deny being a 'fag'. Hey, maybe he actually is," Kuuya mused.

"Eh, who knows?" Taichi shrugged it off, straight act smoothly in place, but he couldn't ignore the twisting in his stomach. Why _hadn't_ Yamato retorted? Had it actually hurt him?

--

Yamato stumbled into the school building toward his locker. He'd spent the morning at home in bed, not being bothered to get up. Eventually though, he'd become too irritated with his mind and how it kept arguing with itself over the whole situation. He decided that the only way he'd survive what was left of the school year was to show up and try and prove himself straight. It had been rotten luck he'd heard Taichi's comment on the way in, though he wasn't really surprised. There was a part of him that, until he'd overheard Taichi's comment, had thought - no hoped - that Tai would be different to Kai, that he'd actually stand up for their relationship.

"Guess it's true that no one's willing to be themselves anymore, no one wants to stand up for what they believe in," The blonde muttered to himself as he pulled some books from his locker.

-

By last period, much of the school seemed to have heard and accepted Taichi's heterosexuality, though some still looked at him with puzzled expressions as if trying to decide whether he really could be homosexual.

Yamato, on the other hand, had no such luck. It was slowly getting around the school that he was in fact 'the gay one', many saying he had the hair to prove it. Whereas with Taichi, who was so well liked, respected and popular that no one had really said or done anything about his sexuality, people weren't so discreet about Yamato. Trudging down the corridors to his locker, he could hear people's whispers as he walked past. He ignored most of the comments, hanging his head, trying to come up with a way to regain his hetero rebel status. As he neared his locker, a group of boys his age were approaching; naturally, he made a point of not making eye contact.

"Fucking fag," one of the boys snarled as he walked past, purposely bumping into Yamato's shoulder. Stress fuelled to anger, Yamato dropped his books and grabbed the boy by the arm, dragging him back and spinning him around to face him. With his free hand, Yamato made a fist, pulling it back then bringing it crashing down into the other boy's face. The boy's hands automatically clasped around his nose and he fell to the floor as blood trickled from his face. The boy's friends did nothing but stare. Yamato shot them a scowl before picking up his books and walking to his locker. He shoved the books in and strutted off.

---

Taichi, as usual, was first to the changing rooms before soccer practise and was changed and out on the field before everyone else.

"What happened to you this morning Yagami?" Their Coach questioned.

"Ah, sorry about that Coach, I kinda overslept," Taichi apologised with a sheepish grin.

"Right, well don't let it happen again," Coach scorned playfully as the other boys ran out onto the field, "Okay boys, as you know we've got a match a week today, I want a warm up then split into two teams for practise!"

Twenty minutes later, the boys were lost in an intense game. Taichi, naturally captain of one team, was fuelling all of his stress and anger into the game, really making it matter. Hiraku had typically elected himself as captain of the second team.

"Taichi!" Daisuke yelled as he dribbled the ball up the field towards the elder boy. As he neared him, Daisuke skilfully kicked the ball in a smooth pass to Taichi, who equally skilfully caught it and dribbled it further up field towards the goal. Two boys from the other team were trailing him and as he got nearer the goal, Hiraku went in for the tackle.

Maybe Hiraku tackled a little harder than usual, maybe he muttered 'lying fag' just loud enough for Taichi to hear or maybe Taichi had been fuelling slightly too much stress and anger into the game. Maybe - and most likely - it was a combination of all three, but before anyone knew what was happening, Taichi and Hiraku were rolling around on the floor, locked in a wild flurry of punches.

The rest of the boys halted playing, eyes fixed on the fight before them, jaws slightly open, until the piercing screech of the Coach's whistle sliced through the silence.

"Boys! Get up!" He barked, "Guys, break them up!

The team's trance broke and Daisuke and Kuuya rushed in to pull them off each other.

"Guys, come on, calm down," Kuuya ordered as Hiraku struggled in his arms.

"You're an idiot," Taichi growled at Hiraku, calmly standing next to Daisuke in the spot he'd been pulled up in. Due to channelling his anger into the brief, violent scuffle, it had now vaguely subsided.

"At least I'm not a lying fag!" Hiraku spat as his struggle in Kuuya's arms ceased.

"Change the record, everybody knows _you're_ the liar," Taichi retaliated.

Hiraku groaned and rolled his eyes, "It wasn't really that surprising to find you're gay. But a liar? Never had you pinned down that low Yagami. Or should I say 'I'm-a-gay'?"

"Bet you've been thinking tha-"

"Alright boys, this practise is over. Go get changed, go home and have a nice weekend. Taichi, Hiraku, a word?" Coach demanded.

The team headed into the changing room exchanging subdued mumbles. A grumpy Taichi, a pissed off Hiraku and a fed up and confused coach were all that was left on the field.

"What on earth has gotten into you two? You're acting like animals!"

Both boys leapt to their own heated explanations before Coach silenced them.

"Ah! Boys! Shut up. I really don't want to hear it! All I want to know is whether you two can work it out and play as a team in next week's match! This is an important game and you two are pretty much my best players. I'm not going to have to find replacements for you, am I?"

"No sir," The boys mumbled, gazes on the ground, put in place by their Coach.

"Good, now shake hands,"

Reluctantly the boys turned to each other. Hiraku met Taichi's outstretched hand with a begrudging handshake. Neither boy looked up, both refusing to meet the other's eyes.

"Well it's a start at least," Coach muttered, "Alright boys, in and change. I'll see you after school on Monday,"

"See ya Coach," The boys raced into the changing room and hurriedly got changed.

"Wanna do something tonight Tai?" Daisuke suggested as they changed, "Catch a movie? Go to the arcade?"

"I dunno Dais, I don't really feel like going out tonight,"

"Okay well we can chill at yours then. Watch movies, play games, and you can feed me," Daisuke replied with a wicked grin.

"Fine, but I warn you, I may not be the best company,"

Daisuke couldn't help but notice it sounded like more of a threat or a promise than a warning.

"Come on, I can cheer you up with cheesy jokes, takeaway food and bad movies," Daisuke bargained in an attempt to make Taichi smile as they finished changing and headed out of the building.

"Sounds good I guess," Taichi replied less than half-heartedly.

"I know, obviously, it was **my** plan after all!" Daisuke laughed, then, knowing the older boy couldn't resist a challenge, added, "Plus I'll race you there and I bet you can't beat me," and with that he leapt off, racing down the path and out of the school gates.

The challenge flashed in Taichi's eyes. He tightened the straps on his school bag, pushed his fringe out of his eyes and was off, shortly not even half a metre behind his mahogany haired friend.

"You wish Motomiya!" He laughed.

It took the boys no more than five minutes to reach Taichi's apartment at the pace they were running. Taichi technically won the race, slamming into his front door just milliseconds before Daisuke.

"Told you… I'd… win," Taichi grinned between pants, leaning against the wall. The race wasn't much but it had certainly heightened his spirits slightly.

"Oh, I let you," Daisuke blatantly lied as he joined Taichi panting against the wall in an attempt to regain his breath.

"Sure," Taichi cocked an eyebrow at Daisuke as his front door was pulled open.

"What's going on out here?" Mae asked, treading into the hall, "Taichi, you're home. Oh and hey Daisuke," she greeted the boys.

The boys greeted her concurrently after regaining their breath, then followed her into the apartment.

"Oh God, what happened to you Taichi?" Mae gasped, getting a look at Taichi's face properly in the kitchen light. A bruise was forming under his right eye and his cheeks were streaked with mud. There was a small amount of dried blood under one of his nostrils.

"Soccer," Taichi answered dismissively.

Mae frowned at her son slightly, knowing that something else was going on. She let it go, for now, "Well you'd better get cleaned up; your sister is having friends round to work on some science project,"

"Okay, I'll go shower. Dais, entertain yourself with the TV,"

"Shall do!" Daisuke chirped as Taichi made his way up the hall and into the bathroom. He was about to meander into the living room when Mae stopped him.

"Can I have a word?" She asked gently, offering him a seat at the kitchen table which he cautiously took, "It's about Taichi," She explained, sitting herself opposite him, "Is he being bullied? It's just the mood he was in last night and this morning… Then the bruise and the blood on his face this afternoon…"

"No! Of course not! It's just, Hiraku, you know the one on our soccer team? He started a rumour Taichi was gay with the school's loner, which no one believes mind you, and Tai and Hiraku had a bit of a vicious tackle over it in practise this afternoon," Daisuke explained, "As for his mood last night, I don't have a clue, maybe hormones?"

"Wait, someone started a rumour he's gay? Why?" Mae caught on quickly.

"Hiraku's just jealous of Taichi's popularity and thinks he'd make a better soccer captain. He claimed he saw Tai and Yamato Ishida kissing in a toilet, which is totally not true by the way,"

"Right, okay," Mae considered, "Thanks Daisuke, you can go now,"

---

"Right, what are we watching?" Taichi flipped himself down on the sofa next to Daisuke after he'd finished in the shower.

"Nothing, there's nothing on," Daisuke flicked through the channels aimlessly, then dropped the remote on the sofa between them, "Taiiii…. go get your DVDs,"

"Daaaiiiiiiiss…. Do it yourself," Taichi mimicked Daisuke's tone.

Daisuke shot Taichi an unappreciative frown before getting up to go to Taichi's room. Just as he left the room the doorbell rang.

"Well I guess you can get the door then," Daisuke laughed and poked his tongue out at Taichi.

"Nah, my mum will get it," Taichi smiled.

"Taichi! Come and get the door, I'm in the middle of cooking!" Taichi's smile was interrupted by Mae calling him from the kitchen.

"Oh really?" Daisuke said smugly, and then bounced off in the direction of Taichi's room.

"Whatever," Taichi got up lazily from the couch and strode into the kitchen.

"It's probably Hikari's classmates, tell them she's in her room," Mae mumbled, pulling something out of the oven as Taichi unlocked the door.

As he pulled the door open, Taichi's mouth dropped in shock.

"Er, hi, is Hikari in? I'm here to work on the science project," the blonde at the door asked cautiously.

"Erm, yeah, yeah come on through," Taichi snapped his mouth shut, regaining his senses. His little sister's friend looked extremely similar to Yamato. Though his hair was shorter and less well tamed and his eyes were a shade darker, the boys had the same bone structure and the same stance.

"Thanks, I'm Takeru by the way," The younger blonde offered his hand for Taichi to shake. Taichi took it cautiously then called up the hall to his sister.

"Hikari! Your friend's here!"

"Coming!" She called from her room, then came practically skipping down the hall, "Oh, hey T.K.," She greeted the blonde with a slight hug, "When are the others getting here?"

"Not too sure, shouldn't be long, I think Miyako's uncle is giving them a lift over or something,"

"Okay cool," Hikari smiled, "Mom, this is Takeru by the way," She grabbed the boy's arm and dragged him over to her mother, "He's pretty new to the school,"

"Hey Takeru, I'm Mae," Mae greeted the young boy as she stirred something in a pan on the stove.

"Please, call me T.K.," He replied with a smile.

"K, come on T.K., we can watch TV until the others arrive," Hikari smiled, heading towards the living room.

"Nuh uh, me and Dais are watching the TV at the moment," Taichi argued sullenly, then headed down the hall.

Hikari frowned after her brother, "Ignore him, he's been in a foul mood since last night. We can join them,"

Ten minutes later, the four were sat in front of the TV. The three youngest of the group were enjoying each other's company, Daisuke and Hikari already got on well and he enjoyed meeting new people, especially people as friendly as Takeru. Taichi, on the other hand, had been sent back into his musing by the fact that Takeru looked so much like Yamato, and so he was staring at the TV as Daisuke's DVD of choice played on.

It wasn't long, however, before the rest of Hikari's friends arrived and they disappeared into her room to work on the science project.

"That T.K. kid's nice," Daisuke commented over the noise of the film.

"If you say so," Taichi grumbled.

"You're not back in that mood again, are you?" Daisuke moaned, "Come on Taichi, they're only rumours and hardly anyone even believes them anymore. I don't get it, normally you wouldn't act like this,"

Taichi shrugged.

"Right if you don't cheer up I may have to go to extremes," Daisuke scowled good-naturedly at Taichi.

"Whatever,"

"You bum. I'm gonna call people, make them come over,"

"Not too many though, and ask my mum first," Taichi muttered in response, very little of his attention focused on what he and Daisuke were saying.

-

It wasn't long before several of Taichi's friends were squeezed into his living room, namely Kuuya, Koushiro, Jyou, Sora, Mimi and of course Daisuke.

"Dais, didn't I say not too many people?" Taichi frowned sullenly.

"Yeah well I phoned Kuuya and Sora, but Koush and Jyou were at Kuuya's and Mimi was at Sora's, besides, your mum didn't mind,"

"Right, whatever, um, do you guys mind if I just go have a little lie down? I'm knackered after soccer practice," Taichi groaned, leaving the room before giving anyone any time to respond. He stumbled to his room and lay down on his bed. Things seemed worse now, mainly because seeing someone who looked so much like Yamato had spiralled his thoughts into a new direction. He gazed up at his bedroom ceiling and couldn't help but notice the poster on the wall, the one that covered their names. Carefully, he sat up and pulled the poster down. He gazed at the writing on the wall, '_Yamato and Taichi forever'_, glancing at the date he realised it had been written just a week ago. Forever isn't meant to last for just a week.

As he lay back down, everything started to make sense to him. He wasn't meant to do this to Yamato, he wasn't meant to lie about it. And come to think about it, hadn't it been Taichi himself that hadn't always really minded the thought of coming out properly? It was just the way it had happened that had thrown him. How could he do that to Yamato? After all he'd been through with Kai! He'd only been acting this way for just over 24 hours, but in that time he'd been a complete asshole. He'd lied to his friends, he'd abandoned his love and left him to deal with this bombshell alone and he'd even risked hurting Sora. He thought back over the past few months, all the beautiful time he'd spent with Yamato, along with all the lies he'd told his friends. It had to stop. Yamato was one of the most important things in Taichi's life, and he wanted to be able to share that with his friends. His friends would accept it, surely they would, otherwise they weren't very good friends. And as for the rest of the school, well, they didn't matter as long as Taichi had his friends and his Yamato. He couldn't believe how much he'd risked their relationship over the past 24 hours. He loved Yamato and he knew Yamato loved him, no matter how little he showed it.

His thoughts were shortly interrupted by a knock at his bedroom door.

"Who is it?" Taichi asked.

"It's Koushiro. Can I come in?"

"Sure," Taichi mumbled.

The door opened slightly, letting in the light from the hallway. Koushiro cautiously stepped in and shut the door behind him, plunging the room back into semi-darkness, the only light coming from the setting sun that was peeking in behind Taichi's closed curtains.

"I just came to see if you're okay, so, are you?" Koushiro questioned, perching himself on the edge of Taichi's bed.

"Mmhmm," Taichi sighed, then sat up fairly abruptly, causing the poster in his lap to crinkle.

"What's with the poster?" Koushiro enquired, confused.

"It's true y'know," Taichi ignored Koushiro's question, and went straight in to tell Koushiro the truth, longing to get the weight off his chest.

"What is Taichi?"

"The whole thing Hiraku 'made up'. I am gay, and I am with Ishida," Taichi spoke cautiously, afraid of saying the words out loud.

Koushiro sat back slightly in shock, and there was a silence that settled between them for just a few minutes before the red-head spoke again.

"I thought it might be. The way you've been acting suggested that you weren't just upset over the rumours, that there was something bigger,"

"Do you mind?" Taichi questioned.

"No Taichi. You're my friend. As long as you're happy I don't mind what you do. I can't say I'm pleased about the lying, but I can understand why you did,"

"Koushiro, I've really messed up though. I mean, I totally abandoned Yamato today. He's going to hate me after what he's been through before," Taichi sighed.

"You love him though, don't you?"

Taichi nodded.

"And he loves you?"

"I think so,"

"Then you can't let this get between you. If you love each other you should be together. People shouldn't lie about their feelings, Taichi. It only ends up hurting them You know what I think you should do? Phone him right now. Apologise. Tell him you love him and you're sorry," Koushiro's every word was full of persuasive intelligence, enough so that Taichi jumped off the bed and headed for the door, ready to grab the phone.

He stepped back in surprise when he opened the door and found Mimi standing in the hallway.

"Koush? How about taking your own advice this time, okay?" He smiled back at Koushiro as Mimi stepped into the room, then ran to the kitchen to phone Yamato.

"So it's true then?" Mimi wondered, closing Taichi's bedroom door behind her.

Koushiro nodded.

"What you said to him, Koushiro, that was really wise. Your words were beautiful," Mimi edged herself down onto the bed next to the red-head.

"You think?"

"They made so much sense," She whispered, her fingers gently tracing along his hand, "And I think there's something you should know,"

"Mimi, I really-"

"I like you Koushiro, I really do," her eyelids fluttered and her cheeks turned pink.

"Really? But-" Koushiro blushed as furiously red as his hair.

"Shh," she soothed, then leant in and gently kissed his soft lips. The kiss was beautifully reciprocated, tongues gently touching each other, exploring mouths for the first time.

"Is that enough proof for you?" Mimi smiled, pulling back slightly.

-

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Taichi hurriedly punched Yamato's number into the telephone. It rang twice before the blonde answered.

"Hello?"

"Yamato! It's Taichi, listen, we need to talk-"

"No Taichi, we don't, you said all you needed to say today. Why would you be interested in a fag like me?" Yamato snapped.

"But Yamato-"

"No 'but's Taichi," The blonde growled, "To think I actually hoped you'd be different,"

"I am, Yamato! I love you! And I'm sorry! I love you so much!" Taichi insisted, but realised that since the third word of the first sentence, Yamato had hung up, and he'd been declaring his love to the annoying dialling tone.

* * *

As an overall off topic note, I've made a profile on myspace solely for ficpres and fanfic authors and I'm doing like featured author sections. If you're interested in being on it with a link to your work let me know in a personal message not a review and I'll read some of your stuff and put you up. I'll be sending messages to the people I already want to put up about it when I get the time. I won't put the link to the page here, but ask me if you want it.

Anyway, as I said, I despise this chapter, so all feedback will determine whether or not the story is continued. If it is, I promise the next update should be sooner, I'm exam free now!

_-- Even Gods Dream, 2007_


	5. Chapter 5: Out of the Darkness

A/N: I think this story has a wierd effect on me. Every time I start writing a chapter I'll get really into it and actually like it. Then towards the end I get really awkward, then I read it back and hate it. It's wierd. Oh well. Sorry this took so long anyway.

Disclaimer: You guys know the drill. I don't own any of the characters of Digimon, nor the song Secrets by Good Charlotte (the opening verse).

Dedication: My wonderful reviewers, energy tablets and Max the dog, for actually leaving me alone while I was finishing up this chapter, despite his best attempts to eat my pizza.

* * *

Chapter Five: Out of the Darkness

_Everybody wants to hide their secrets away._  
_Nobody wants to stand up to the pain._  
_But I will stand up to the pain._  
_Wake up and fight again._

"So have you spoken to him?" Koushiro asked as he and Mimi entered the kitchen, fingers laced. Taichi was slumped at the kitchen table, head in hands staring at the phone in front of him.

"Briefly," he muttered. "He didn't want to know,"

Koushiro let go of Mimi's hand and took a seat next to Taichi, patting his friend's shoulder.

"I don't know Ishida that well but to be honest I wouldn't have expected him to forgive you right away, but I'm sure he will eventually. You'll just have to fight," The red head said comfortingly, "He'll come around,"

"Yeah I know. Well, I hope so," Taichi half smiled, feeling strangely more cheery than he previously had been. Just having Koushiro know felt like a giant weight had been lifted from his chest.

"So, Tai, are we telling everyone else?" Mimi asked cautiously, hovering behind the two boys.

"Yes. Yes we are," Taichi turned around and smiled honestly. For the first time in months he could tell the whole truth to his closest friends and that fact, just for a few moments, made whatever happened with Yamato irrelevant.

The brunette stood up and, accompanied by two of his best friends, walked back down the corridor towards the lounge. He stopped at the door, nervously, and again felt Koushiro's comforting hand on his back.

"I can tell them if you'd prefer," the shorter boy offered.

"No. No I'll do it. It's my lie. They deserve it from me,"

Taichi pushed the door open and stepped in, turning the heads of his four friends.

"You three took your time," Daisuke commented, "What were you doing?"

Taichi smiled, but made no attempt at replying as he held open the door for Mimi and Koushiro, then shut it behind them. The three made no effort to sit down as Daisuke, Jyou and Kuuya stared up at them, confused. Sora had already guessed what was going on, and was simply wondering how Taichi was going to tell them.

"Um, guys? I kind of… have to tell you something," Taichi rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

The three boys on the floor continued to stare on expectantly.

"The thing is… Um… Everything Hiraku said is true. And I'm sorry I lied. I am! But I was scared. I felt like I had no choice. It was stupid, yaknow? But... yeah, I'm sorry," He blurted, looking at the floor. He didn't want to see the expressions on his friend's faces as they found out about his dirty little secret.

There were several moments of awkward silence as he stared at the carpet, absent-mindedly counting the threads. The next thing he heard was Daisuke's voice.

"So you lied to us?" The boy scowled, feeling let down.

"I'm sorry," Taichi mumbled.

"Why, Tai? We're your friends! I don't care if you're gay. I don't even care if you're really with Ishida. We care about you. And the truth. Why would you lie? I mean keeping it a secret is bad enough, but lying about it after we've asked you directly. That's not cool dude," Daisuke practically exploded.

"I agree. I mean, what about Hiraku? Yeah, he's a complete ass, but what you've done to him ain't fair," Kuuya chipped in.

"And what he did to me is?" Taichi practically yelled in defence.

"Guys! Calm down, okay?" Sora stood up, coming between Taichi and the three boys. "Listen, Taichi's telling us the truth now, and that's what matters right? Plus, it wasn't that big a secret anyway. I'm surprised you hadn't guessed. Yeah, he's lied. But you can understand why, can't you? After the way the school have acted today? And I find it hard to believe that everyone in this room is completely okay with him being gay. No offence, but it's likely to take a while. But like you said, he's our friend and he's telling us the truth, the least we can do is just let it go. Personally, though, I'd rather we all support him"

Daisuke sighed, "She's right man. I'm sorry. I just… I wish you hadn't lied. And I really am okay about you being gay, okay?"

"Thanks," Taichi smiled, "And I really am sorry I lied,"

"Yeah. Look, thanks for telling us the truth now and all. I mean, it's a little weird for me, but whatever man. As long as you're happy, okay?" Kuuya stated.

Taichi beamed, feeling more relieved every second.

"Wait, so if everything Hiraku said is true… does that mean you are with Ishida?" Kuuya frowned thoughtfully. Sora's ears pricked and she looked directly at Taichi as he looked back down at the floor, not forgetting what he'd previously said to her - and everyone else - about the blonde 'scruff'.

"Um, yeah. Well no. Er, I don't really know right now," Taichi mumbled.

"You told me you weren't," Sora stated, evidently hurt he'd told her he wasn't with Yamato.

"I know. I wanted to respect his privacy and stuff. But I know you guys won't say anything, right? Not about me either,"

A chorus of "No"s, "Hell no"s and "Of course not"s met Taichi's ears.

"Thanks," He sighed then flounced down onto the sofa next to Daisuke, "Well now that's over, what movies are we watching tonight?"

"Over? It's not over!"

"No way! We're not finished with this yet,"

"Ah, no no no no no. This ain't over,"

Sora, Kuuya and Daisuke objected consecutively.

"Yeah Tai, we want all the dirt," Mimi winked.

"Aw, what?! Come on guys, I'm knackered," Taichi joked, faking a yawn. He couldn't believe how much better he was feeling after just telling his friends the truth.

"Lies! So yeah, how did you two, yaknow, how did you, um," Daisuke attempted.

"What he's trying to say," Mimi said as she squeezed into the space between Daisuke and Taichi, excited at the concept of gossip, "Is how did you two first get together?"

Daisuke nodded as confirmation of his question.

"But I think we should start at the beginning. When did you first realise you were gay?" Mimi patted the brunette's knee with every syllable of her question.

"Um, okay, first, the abuse can stop," Taichi frowned amicably, poking Mimi's hand, which she pulled away with a sheepish apology, "Secondly, your question's a tough one. I honestly don't know. I guess I'd thought it for as long as I can remember, I always liked the boys in the music videos, not the girls" He laughed heartily, then his face sobered slightly, "Yamato just confirmed it for me I guess,"

"So, okay, how did you two get together?" Daisuke asked.

"Well, okay, y'know how everyone thinks we hate each other?" Taichi laughed, and everyone nodded in response, "Well, I guess that was kind of real at first. The first day he came to school, I sort of, well I couldn't take my mind off him," he looked down at his knees, crimson spreading up his neck, "The first time I saw him was in History and as soon as he walked in I couldn't believe my eyes. Sora, you were there. Remember what he said when Mr. Iyadomi asked him if he had any questions?"

"Hah! Oh yeah, 'Yeah, what the fuck's up with the brunette pretty boy over there? Mr Thinks-He's-Everything or something?' It was such a bad insult," Sora chuckled.

Taichi smirked slightly, "Heh, yeah. Well I reacted, didn't I? I played up to it for the next three days because I couldn't handle the way he was making me feel. At the time I'd never felt that way about anyone, and I wasn't _really_ expecting the first one to be a boy,"

"So when did that change?"

"Like I said, it lasted three days. On the third day, it was a Friday, well, we were in Math, and I went to the toilet. Was washing my hands when Yamato came in, said some really weird stuff, pinned me up against the wall. And shit, I thought he was gonna kick my ass. But he didn't, he, erm, he kissed me, stuffed a piece of paper into my hand and left. It was really weird, but he'd scrawled 'Call me' and his number on the paper. Heh, it took me until the Sunday to work up the courage to do it. But I did, and we went out that night, to the park in the pitch black, with hoods up and everything, and we just… I dunno, we got on so well. And yeah, it all went from there,"

"That's really cute," Mimi giggled.

"So what's going on with you two now? After what you said it sounds like things aren't so good," Sora probed softly.

"Yeah. Crap. I don't know. Things were good. Things were bloody amazing until Hiraku walked in on us. We've barely talked since then, but somehow, I don't think he's going to forgive me for the way I acted today. Not easily at least,"

"Well, you never know. Keep trying, yeah?" Sora comforted, squeezing Taichi's shoulder.

"Tai… Do you love him?" Daisuke pried.

Taichi laughed bleakly, "Yeah. Yeah I do. And now I've gone and cocked it all up. Shit. What was I thinking? And after everything he's been through before…"

"Hey, come on Taich, it's not your fault. I can't see anyone handling what's happened to you over the last day very well at all. I mean, sheesh, you just came out to the entire school in the worst possible way," Kuuya consoled, "I'm sure he can understand that, right?"

"No. Not after what he went through before. He didn't deserve this. Not at all. _I_ don't deserve _him_," Taichi's voice broke. He didn't even try holding back the few tears that were falling down his cheeks as he kept his eyes on knees.

"Um, no offence Tai, but from what I've seen of Ishida, you're _better_ than him. No matter what you've done in the past 24 hours," Daisuke all but whispered.

"You don't know him," Tai ground out, "What the school sees? It's all a charade. He's the most beautiful person I know," He couldn't stop the tears falling now. Not just over the fact that he might have lost the most beautiful person in his life, but over what an asshole he'd been, how much he must have hurt him.

Sora and Mimi both wrapped their arms around their crying friend and Daisuke and Kuuya exchanged worried glances. Koushiro, on the other hand, had his eyes set on Jyou. It hadn't slipped the redhead's attention that the older boy had said nothing since Taichi had come out and knowing Jyou he was probably freaking out about it.

"Ergh. Sorry guys," Taichi choked, wiping the tears away from his face, "Didn't mean to start crying on you. Let's just… let's just watch some films yeah?"

"Shit Tai, don't worry about it," Daisuke jumped up out of his seat, "And I have a better idea. How about we all go to the movies, grab a pizza then crash here?"

"Nothing like inviting yourself, eh, Dais?" Kuuya laughed at Daisuke's bluntness.

"I dunno. I still don't feel like going out tonight. But you guys are more than welcome to stay here for the night. And we can order pizza and get rental DVDs," Taichi's voice was still slightly raw from the tears, but he sounded happy at the thought of having his friends around him all night.

"I'll stay," Kuuya decided.

"Yeah, me too," Koushiro agreed.

"I will, I was meant to be staying at Sora's anyway," Mimi beamed, excited at the concept of a sleepover.

"Um, well, I would, it's just, I don't know how my mum would react to my staying at a guy's all night, even if it is you," Sora sighed uneasily, "I mean I doubt she'd mind if she knew you were gay, but our mums are close… and she might tell your mum and… yeah,"

Taichi couldn't help but let out a slight guffaw as the others stared on in bemusement, "Guys, she already knows!"

"And she's okay with it?"

"Yeah, of course! How else would Yamato and I have been able to spend much time together? Hikari knows too,"

"Really? That's impressive. Though I must confess I'm a little hurt your mum knew before me, but, whatever," Daisuke scowled. Whether he was joking or not, Taichi couldn't decide.

"Anyway, so Sora, you gonna stay?" Taichi turned his attention back to his auburn haired friend.

"Yeah, once I've checked with my mum," Sora decided.

"Goodo. Jyou?" Taichi fixed his attention on his black-haired friend, not realising that he'd been silent through the entire conversation.

"Um, you know what guys? I think I'm gonna take off," said Jyou as he got up and headed out of the lounge door, "It's been fun and all but I have, erm, studying to do. See you round?" And with that he was off.

"Oookay," Taichi frowned after the boy, bemused, "Right, guys, you can all phone your parents about tonight while I double check with my mum and ask my sister and her friends if they want in on the pizza, okay?"

"Yeah, um, I'm gonna go check if Jyou's okay. I'll be back though," Koushiro picked up his jacket then left.

---

An hour later saw Kuuya, Daisuke and Taichi sat in front of the TV eating crisps and ignoring the Friday night programmes that were left on as they talked over it. Koushiro still hadn't come back after chasing after Jyou and Mimi had insisted that she and Sora go back to Sora's to get their belongings, because of course Mimi couldn't survive any sleepover without the essentials. Taichi's mother had given everyone permission to stay granted their parents allowed it and they weren't _too_ rowdy. They were ready to order pizza as soon as everyone got back and Hikari and her friends finished working on their science project.

It was another half hour before Mimi and Sora arrived back, equipped with way too many bags.

"Um, you realise we're only staying one night, right?" Daisuke raised his eyebrows and pointed at the amount of bags the girls had between them.

"Yes," Sora rolled her eyes, "Mimi decided she wanted to go shopping and, well, you have no idea how much stuff this girl likes to bring to sleepovers,"

"I just brought all my stuff. We can do, like, facials and stuff. Tai! I can give you a makeover and Yamato Ishida will take you back in no time," Mimi dropped her bags in the corner of the lounge and sat down on the empty sofa opposite the boys.

"Um, heh, I'll pass on that one thanks. So, what did you buy in the shops?" Taichi directed the subject away from makeovers as quickly as he could.

"Oh you know, the usual comfort food. Marshmallows, chocolate fudge cake, cookies, hot chocolate… pretty much all junk food," Mimi said proudly.

"Comfort food? If this is because of me, you really didn't have to," Taichi shifted slightly in his seat, somewhat uncomfortable at the fact his friends had spent money just on cheering him up.

"Shut up Tai! If the ladies wanna bring us food, let them bring us food! But if you don't want it, that's great. I'm more than happy to eat your share," Daisuke joked.

"No Tai, don't worry about it. You should know by now that Mimi lives for girly sleepovers and cheering people up. If it wasn't for your whole relationship thing, she'd have found another reason to buy junky food," Sora rolled her eyes jovially at her pink haired friend, who simply smiled widely in response.

"Well, all the better for me then," Taichi stretched back happily on the sofa, "I wish the others would hurry up. I want my pizza,"

"Yeah, what's taking Koushiro so long?" Mimi wondered aloud, strangely enough just as the doorbell rung.

The group listened as Taichi's mother opened the door and welcomed Koushiro back in, leading him through to the lounge.

"Hey guys," He stepped in through the doorway, now graced with two bags he previously hadn't been carrying.

"Where've you been?" Daisuke asked, forcing an obviously false annoyed tone into his voice, "We've been waiting for pizza,"

"Right. Well it took me ages to calm Jyou down. It would seem he isn't as okay about Taichi's… revelation as the rest of us are. He's better now, I talked him out of it, but he thought it best not to stay for the night. Then I went home and got some stuff. Did you really think I'd stay out for the night without my laptop?" Koushiro cocked an eyebrow slightly.

The group settled into a slightly uncomfortable silence, none of them realising that Jyou hadn't been as accepting as them.

"So, erm… Jyou's not okay with me?" Taichi sighed, feeling let down and shaken. Since he'd finally let it all out to his friends, everything had seemed okay again, in spite of what was happening with Yamato. He'd failed to notice, however, that his older friend hadn't been comfortable with it.

"It freaked him out. A lot. But like I said, I talked to him and calmed him down. He just needs to get used to it is all," Koushiro shook his head thoughtfully, "By next week, he should be fine,"

"I hope so," Taichi exhaled deeply, shrugging his shoulders slightly.

"Okay now Koushiro's here can we order pizza?" Daisuke either attempted a quick change of subject or really was just thinking with his stomach.

"Yeah. Let me just go check with Hikari how long they're gonna be," Taichi decided, getting up to leave the room.

---

The rest of the night was spent laughing, eating, cooking and watching DVDs, occasionally with deep conversation tied somewhere between. If it hadn't been for the occasional questions about them, Taichi could have happily forgotten about the problems between him and Yamato and simply enjoyed a night in with his friends. Even so, the rest of the conversation, the films and the food helped take his mind off everything enough to severely enjoy the night. It had been a long time since he'd spent a night in with his friends, happy doing nothing, and it felt really good, especially now they knew the real him.

At about 11 o'clock Hikari's friends began to leave. Since they'd finished working on their project they'd stayed in the lounge with Taichi and his friends, finding that they all got on well - particularly Daisuke and TK. Daisuke even walked the blonde to the door as he left and asked him to join them in town the next day, to which TK agreed.

After many rounds of Spin The Bottle, several makeovers with an array of victims (including Daisuke and Koushiro) and about a million marshmallow cookies, the group finally began to fall asleep. Mimi went first, cuddled up to Koushiro in her bright pink, heart decorated sleeping bag. Koushiro was next, drifting off to the sound of Mimi's gentle breathing. Still with them, Hikari seemed to fall asleep the same time as Sora, as they rested against each other. Before long, Kuuya was gone too, and it was just Daisuke and Taichi awake.

"Can you believe them? Asleep already! It's still early!" Daisuke rolled his eyes, but kept his voice low, careful not to wake the others.

"Haha, so not hardcore," Taichi's voice was equally quiet as he flicked through the channels on the TV with the volume down low.

"Dude it's only…" Daisuke glanced at his wrist, trying to see the time, but realised he hadn't been wearing a watch since soccer practice. "You got the time?"

"Yeah," Without looking, Taichi thrust the arm with the watch on in front of Daisuke's face as he continued to stare at the TV.

"Well, it's 3am," Daisuke read from the watch. "Guess it is kinda late," He stifled a yawn, then looked across at Taichi, whose eyes were drooping despite his best efforts to keep them open and watch late night TV.

Before they knew it, they were asleep too.

---

Somehow, Taichi woke up at 8.30 the next morning, long before everyone else. He came to slowly, for a minute thinking that the lump lying on him was Yamato, but as he awoke properly, he realised it was Daisuke. Gently, he pushed the sleeping boy off him, and sat up, glancing around the room. Koushiro and Mimi were still huddled in her sleeping bag. Hikari and Sora were sleeping sitting up, backs leaning against the opposite sofa, on which Kuuya was spread out, mouth open wide enough to catch flies. Quietly, he stood up and stepped over them all, walking into the kitchen. He stretched and yawned, then let out a deep sigh, intensely missing Yamato, so much so that he picked up the phone and punched in the blonde's house number. It may have been early, and yes, Yamato probably was going to kill him, but like his friends had said, he just had to keep trying.

He was almost ready to hang up and give up when the blonde finally answered, voice scratchy and raw. Taichi could just picture him with his tousled hair and nude chest, clad only in a pair of jogging bottoms and probably boxer-briefs, rubbing his eyes and scowling down the phone. Well, the scowl at least was evident in his voice.

"What the hell?" the blonde groaned. No 'hello', no 'how may I help you?'; he was really quite lucky it was Taichi and not someone important calling for his Uncle.

"Yama, it's me, Tai," Taichi stated, voice equally groggy due to it being the first thing he'd said since he'd woken. He instantly regretted using his pet name for the blonde, knowing that 'Yama' would probably snap due just to that, leave alone being woken up early.

"Don't you fucking 'Yama' me. What the hell do you think you're doing ringing me this early in the morning? What the hell do you think you're doing ringing me full stop? I told you Taichi, it's over. You made you're fucking bed now lie in it. And fuck off so I can fall asleep in mine,"

"No Yamato! Listen! Please, just listen! I'm sorry, okay? I was an asshole, but I'm so damned sorry! I want to tell the truth! I want them to know the truth about us. My friends already do. I'm so sick of lying Yamato. I want to be proud of us, of what we have," The brunette pleaded, but to no avail.

"You told them?! That's great Tai. How the hell are we meant to act straight now? And it's not what we have man, it's what we _had_, because of course why the hell would you date a scruff like me?" Yamato spat.

"No, Yama…" Taichi sniffed, the tears in his eyes evident in his voice, "Listen. Please, please just come and meet me today. We're all going into town, okay? So come in and give me a ring and I'll meet you. We can sort this out properly, please?"

There was a soft silence as Yamato considered Taichi's proposal, heart softening slightly at the tears he could hear in the brunette's voice.

"Maybe," He finally uttered, voice less harsh than it had been "But I'm going back to bed now,"

"M'kay," Taichi sighed, "I'll see you later then. I love you," he whispered, before hanging up, not waiting for his love's reply.

---

Yamato glared at his watch, taking another drag from the cigarette in his hands. It was half past eleven and he was in town. He, Yamato Ishida, was actually up and looking fairly good at half past eleven in the morning. He'd done his hair just the way he liked it, he wore a faded tight black t-shirt - which had fancy white lettering across it, reading 'Cocaine Rodeo' - that clung to his skin tightly, showing off his toned body, and a pair of low slung black jeans adorned in patches - many of which obscene - studs and buttons. A line of milky white skin was visible between the bottom of the t-shirt and the top of the trousers. He'd made an effort with his appearance for a number of reasons. Firstly, he hadn't been able to get back to sleep since the wake up call he'd received from Taichi and there'd been nothing else to do but get ready. Secondly, he was almost ready to forgive Taichi, _almost_. And that meant getting a little revenge first, which of course he knew would be sweetest when he looked the part. Thirdly - and lastly - he knew that pretty much everyone from his school would be in town, and before he even considered taking Taichi back - if he even did - he needed to make sure his "badass" reputation was still intact.

Leaning against an outside wall of the city's main shopping mall, he finished his cigarette, then took out another, holding it between his lips as he shielded it from the wind with one hand, lighting it precisely with the other. He was going to leave it until at least 1 in the afternoon until he let Taichi know he was in town, which meant a good hour and a half's mindless shopping for him. He really wasn't going to give in that easily, not after the way Taichi had behaved the day before, especially when he knew how Kai had treated him. He probably wouldn't have even considered taking him back at all - at least not this early - had it not been for the surprise he'd had at the wake up call, and the tears he could hear in poor Taichi's voice as he begged for them to meet.

Shortly, he finished off his second cigarette and strolled into the building, heading towards the music shop. It was his favourite shop due to it being split in two halves, one selling CDs and vinyl, the other selling musical instruments and all sorts of accessories. He could spend absolutely hours in there doing not much at all.

He headed to the instrument section first, picking out a new strap for his guitar and several new plectrums, after testing out a range of different guitars. He decided he needed a new one soon.

As he headed into the other half of the shop, he noticed a small gaggle of girls from school walk in, the new girl he'd encountered a week or so back amongst them.

"Great," He muttered under his breath; no doubt they'd have something to say to him about the rumours. And he was right. As soon as she spotted him, Rei sidled over, a grin set on her face.

"So, is it true?" She asked cockily, raising an eyebrow.

"Is what true?" Yamato grumbled, not even bothering to glance up from the CD he was looking at.

"The rumours. You know, you and that jock guy being gay," She stated.

"What do you think?" He scowled, though still keeping his eyes on the CD cover, resisting the urge to put her in her place and tell her that Taichi Yagami was not in fact a jock in the slightest meaning of the word.

She stared at him for a moment as if trying to decide something, "What I think," She mused, " Is that you should hang out with us today,"

He was about to tell her where to go, when he changed his mind, deciding that being seen with a group of girls - especially _this_ group of girls in their tartan mini skirts and torn fishnets or leather trousers - would do wonders for the reputation he wanted.

"Um, just for a while then," He mumbled.

"Great!" She smiled widely, her eyes lighting up, then grabbed his arm, linking hers through his, "So what you buying?" She looked over his shoulder at the CD he was still holding.

"I'm not. I'm just browsing," He muttered, suddenly very unsure of what he'd gotten himself in for and feeling very uncomfortable with the girl's arm linked through his, "And it's Queens Of The Stone Age," He added, signalling to the CD.

"Oh, cool. So if you're not buying anything, wanna go grab some food?" Rei suggested, as she beckoned her friends over.

"Um, sure?" Yamato half agreed, still feeling rather unsure of the situation.

"Guys, we're going to the food court, you coming?" Rei asked her friends, who all nodded in agreement.

Before Yamato knew it, he was standing at the front of the food court with Rei hanging off his arm and the other girls surrounding him. They'd turned heads walking in, partially because of the way they were dressed, and partially because the food court was filled mostly with people from school who would not have expected to see Yamato walking past with a girl hanging off his arm.

"Girls, why don't you lot sit down? Me and Yamato here will bring the food over," Rei practically ordered, pointing to an empty booth and dragging Yamato towards a rather large queue. They were halfway there when someone calling Yamato's name stopped him, he turned to the direction the shout came from to face a group of people from school.

"What are you doing with a girl Ishida?" One of the boys asked.

"Yeah, aren't you, like, a fag?" Another chimed in.

Rei wasn't paying attention as Yamato growled back at the boys. Something - or rather someone - over the other side of the food court had caught her eye. Taichi Yagami and his friends were heading right in their direction. Now she'd find out if the rumours were true or not.

She removed her arm from Yamato's and spun him around to face her, placing one arm around his neck and the other at his hip. She pulled him to her, lips clashing uneasily as she kissed him roughly, whistles erupting from the boys in front of them.

Yamato, stunned, didn't know what to do. If he pulled away, it would look bad, especially considering what he'd just been saying to the boys at the table about being straight. On the other hand, he certainly wasn't enjoying the kiss. It was awkward, bumpy, in front of practically everyone, and worst of all, with a girl. Unsure of how to act, he went with it, uneasily kissing her back for as long as he could take, which wasn't long. He pulled back, and forced a smile at her, then turned back around to face the table, ready to make a snide comment and leave to get his food, but as he turned, a mass of brunette hair caught his eye, and he did a double take. Taichi was standing not far behind the booth with his friends; his mouth hanging wide open, tears in the corner of his eyes with a look set on his face that was one of the most heartbreaking Yamato had ever seen.

A few moments passed before either boy moved, then Taichi spun on his heel and ran off. Daisuke ran after him, and the rest of his friends stood there scowling at Yamato.

"Um, I… Rei, could you excuse me a second? I just have to go to the bathroom," Yamato excused himself shortly, walking swiftly off in the direction Taichi had run, ignoring the glares from his friends.

"Whay, Ishida needs to 'sort himself out'" One of the boys at the table joked, having not seen Taichi and his friends.

Rei simply smiled to herself, "I guess Hiraku was telling the truth," she muttered under her breath as she watched the blonde swiftly follow Taichi through the mall, then turned and finished queuing for her food.

Yamato could feel the embarrassment burning up his face, along with bewilderment. Sure, he was pissed at Taichi, he'd wanted 'revenge' on him, he'd wanted him to think he wasn't planning on taking him back, but he hadn't wanted to do it like that. Hell, he'd just practically cheated on Taichi when they were meant to have been meeting up to talk over their relationship. He watched as Taichi and Daisuke headed into the boy's toilets, then followed them in.

Taichi stood at the sinks, staring into the mirror before him with Daisuke at his side.

"Shit, I'm a fricking idiot Dais. God, if I hadn't acted-" He was muttering to the younger boy, once more beating himself up for everything.

"Taichi," Yamato stated the boy's name, causing Taichi and Daisuke to spin their heads around and face him. They hadn't known they'd been followed.

"What do you want?" Daisuke all but snarled at the blonde, feeling very protective over his mentor and best friend.

"I want a private word with Taichi," The blonde scowled at Daisuke, then turned to Taichi, his gaze softening, "I want to talk to the boy I love. I want him to know that I'm sorry,"

Taichi looked from Yamato to Daisuke, then down at the floor, feeling a wave of weakness wash over him.

"No," He muttered, then louder, "No. You know what? Maybe I was a right asshole yesterday, but I never got off with anyone else! I would _never_ have cheated on y-"

"It wasn't like that!" Yamato defended himself, but Taichi didn't even give him a chance to explain.

"You know what? I can't do this right now. The last few days… they've just been too much. I'm going home. Dais? Tell the others I'm sorry and you can all come chill at mine tomorrow. Yamato Ishida?" Taichi purposely used the boy's full name, "I'll see you in History,"

_

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So I have a question for you guys. This chapter could have been longer, but I wanted to get it up quicker, because it had taken me so long to actually get started on it. So would you prefer quick updates or longer chapters? The choice is yours, and I'll bare it in mind with Chapter Six, which shockingly I've already started.

Please note, although I'm not too fond of this story, I've decided I'm not a quitter and I AM going to see it through. However, for the mean time I'm focusing most of my time on my newest Taito, Boys of Summer, chapter 2 of which should be up within a week. I actually like that story and am enjoying planning it out and stuff. Which means that updates on this may be few and far between, so if you want something to tide you over, check out Boys Of Summer :P. But I am not quitting Fragile Webs. Ever.

Thank you, and reviews are love.

_-- Even Gods Dream, August 2007_


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